Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in California quickly administered 850 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine Jan. 4 after discovering the refrigerator holding them had failed and the vaccines were thawing, SFGate reported.
The hospital learned in the late morning that the refrigerator holding Mendocino County's most recent allotment of Moderna vaccines had stopped working around 2 a.m. and staff only had two and a half hours to get the vaccines into people's arms before they spoiled.
Judson Howe, CFO of Adventist Health Howard Memorial, told SFGate the hospital aimed to vaccinate high-risk people first, but the top priority was making sure no vaccines went to waste. They gave several dozen doses to a nursing home and 200 to the county, which gave the vaccines to county workers and jail inmates. The remaining 600 doses were given to the general public on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Adventist Health rapidly set up four vaccination centers, three on the hospital campus and one in a local church, according to SFGate, and had 40 employees administering shots at the sites. They got word out to the public about the vaccines through social media and by calling nursing homes and other facilities, as well as by word of mouth.
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