Lucky Motorists Stranded With Vaccine Team Get Shots

From Oregon’s Josephine County:

When Josephine County Public Health staff and volunteers concluded their mass vaccination event at the Illinois Valley High School this afternoon, they never guessed they might be setting up an impromptu clinic on the way back to Grants Pass.

But that’s exactly what happened when a snowstorm stranded about 20 personnel on Highway 199 near Hayes Hill. At the end of the IVHS clinic, the team had six doses of COVID-19 vaccinations left to administer.

Recipients had been identified in Grants Pass, but the snow meant those doses wouldn’t make it to them before they expired.

Not wanting to waste any doses, dedicated JCPH staff members began walking from car to car, offering stranded motorists a chance at receiving the vaccine (with an ambulance from AMR-Josephine County on hand for safety).

JCPH Director Mike Weber said it was one of the coolest operations he’d been a part of.

How Cool! In Oregon, health workers, traveling with COVID vaccines, got stranded in a snowstorm in Josephine County. So, they pulled over & gave 6 doses of the vaccine to other stranded motorists. The doses were going to go bad, so the team thought: why not! pic.twitter.com/pTW7I7zhib

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 28, 2021