MENDOCINO Co., 1/4/21 — A power failure for the freezer holding the county’s ration of the Moderna vaccines forced an emergency distribution of 850 doses of that vaccine this afternoon in Ukiah. Nursing home workers, clinicians, and the general public on the first-come-first-serve basis were given an initial dose of the vaccine, and will be contacted by the hospital to get a second dose in about a month.
The doses had been stored at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in a special freezer. As explained by Dr. Bessant Parker, chief medical officer for Adventist Health in Mendocino County, at about 11:35 a.m. this morning it was discovered that the freezer’s power had died some time earlier, and that an alarm meant to alert hospital staff of such a failure had not gone off. As a result the vaccine had begun to thaw or was in danger of thawing.
Doctors immediately realized that it would be necessary to distribute all these 850 doses on an emergency basis, lest they go bad and become unviable. So the staff of the hospital began to make calls, send texts, call in staff that was off, and prepared to administer all the doses.
They began at 12 p.m. and a line soon formed outside and inside of the Ukiah Valley Medical Center, with people off the street, patients, people who had heard from a friend or word-of-mouth, lining up out the door. By 2 p.m. all the doses had been administered and the people left in line had to be turned away. Information was collected from those who did get a vaccine, and they will be given a call at a future date for their booster shot. Additionally they received CDC vaccine cards.
Given the narrow window to get the vaccines out, time was of the essence, and Parker explained that vaccines were distributed only in Ukiah, at the hospital and at certain key nursing homes. Sending doses up to Howard Memorial Hospital was considered, but was not possible due to an accident on the 101 blocking northbound traffic.
So the elderly and those w existing conditions get nothing. I wonder how many nurses and doctors contacted family and friends by “word of mouth or texting”?
Did you not read the part where they sent them to nursing homes? I feel like that likely fits the elderly bill. Just sayin.
So this vaccination was given to staff’s friends?
“the 101”
Ugh. That’s not what we say here.
@Irish707
Some of those folks did indeed get it, but time was of the essence. They only had two hours to hurriedly administer close to a thousand doses. How would you do it differently?
I am high risk and have surgery at that hosp every three months. It would have been nice to have received a call about coming in for a shot.
Title says freezer’s failed. article says it was a power failure. Which one was it?
👏🏼👏🏼Congratulations on distributing so many vaccines in such a small time frame! 🙌🏼💖 Great job! ✨
This line is not socially distanced. I don’t think everyone is wearing a mask even? I understand they didn’t have much time but I think it’s very worrisome to see a line like this outside of a hospital anytime in a pandemic. I will say this is a very unfortunate event. The best was made of a bad situation. And undoubtedly some people got vaccines ahead of others who need them more.. I applaud them for using all the doses but I am concerned about this picture indeed.
You should have showed up and policed the whole event. We need more Karen’s ready to police the public🤣
This was an unfortunate event but may not have an altogether bad outcome. The randomness of the population that got immunized means the immunization will be spread in patches across Ukiah, which will help stop spread in a very spotty way which is actually good, instead of just at the hospital. It was not planned that way, but it could help the community. According to the current situation, we are due for more Covid contagion this month, so spreading out this resource is a possible plus. Medical community loses out but not permanently, and they do have lots of protective gear and are more careful than the general population.
This story is a shining example of — and a tribute to — everyone who has ever found themselves in an unexpectedly difficult situation, yet under pressure managed to figure a way out of it, and find a path around any obstacles in their way. In this instance, none of the precious and potentially life-saving doses of vaccine got wasted. I first read the article in the LA Times about this heroic effort, and it’s pretty doggone inspiring, I’d have to say. Bravo to all involved!
I first read this article through news app, News Break. They have one additional paragraph to this article that tells that 200 of these spoiling vaccines were delivered to the Mendocino County Jail: “In addition to clinics, nursing homes, and people lined up at the hospital, 200 doses were sent to the Mendocino Co. Jail which has been suffering a …..”
https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0YClVQAJ?s=a99&pd=07MaSgMp&lang=en_US
They should have pulled older people from the line to go first. But it was a good effort by the hospital!
Nice to see that the supply of Ukiah Valley Pollyannas has not been diminished. Maybe your sunny dispositions will burn out the virus in the same way the UV Lamp up the Gazoo suggestion by the Commander In Thief intended. What this story actually is, is yet another indicator of just how Mickey Mouse, rinky-dink, fly-by-night, Keystone Cop, and generally b0RkEn Mendocino County and Ukiah are. Soviet-Era Russia couldn’t have done this worse. Truly the Chernobyl of towns. Bravo, for yet another fuckup in a long string of historical fuckups. (I could list hundreds, over the years: the present State Street disaster, the Water / Sewer fiasco, city Electrical management, the Shopping Mall Vote, etc. – but why beat a dead pig after the meat has rotted away?) This town does not remind me, as the late, great Frank Zappa said, of a sealed Tuna Salad sandwich – it reminds me more of something Shakespeare wrote: “it is a tale told by an Idiot, full of Sound and Fury, signifying nothing.”
“it is a tale told by an Idiot, full of Sound and Fury, signifying nothing.”
What a perfect way to end your inane comment.
Frank Zappa though a good looking Italian had issues in book. I would insult my family naming them Moon Unit when that was a lie. I choose a Saints name my son. He probably knew nothing about Christianity as he was baptized probably a Roman Catholic as a boy. Sad tales are around us and just going to get worse. We ought to get use to it.
When I was a boy Dart Drug had a freezer break down but it was full of ice milk no ice cream. I figured it was because no one liked ice milk much. It was not the real thing. Same vaccine as an excuse to have a fire sale. Who wants the Moderna vaccine anyways. It’s not proven to help anyone yet but might make them sick. I figure we can get more data now for COVID-19 roulette. Chinese Roullete.
At the rate this disease is spreading in California you will all be dead by the time the Mendocino County Health Department gets it act together to start “jabbing” folks up here. So save your breath and forget it. You’re all doomed, all of you.