Dr. Richard Bates drove nearly 150 miles earlier this month to take a refrigerator carrying 130 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine from MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland to his hospital in Alpena – a city of about 10,000 on Lake Thunder Bay Huron.
The trip takes almost three hours each way and Alpena is about 70 miles from the interstate, so much of the trip is on two-lane roads.
Bates is an obstetrician and regional vice president for medical affairs at MidMichigan Health, which received a shipment of 2,925 doses of the vaccine on December 16.
It was just two days after a nurse at the ICU at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York City, became one of the first people in the United States to be vaccinated.
MidMichigan Health also dispatched doses to other facilities in its system, which serves 23 counties.
Bates is from Alpena and compared the birth of the vaccine in his city to the birth of a baby.
“Watching our team get the vaccine was an unbelievable experience, much like giving birth to a new baby and delivering it to parents, who spent months and sometimes years thinking and dreaming and putting their hopes on that baby,” said CNN’s Bianna Golodryga. “Seeing our team crying and taking pictures of them taking the vaccine and sharing it with their families – it was very special.”
The US government’s Operation Warp Speed promised that 20 million doses of vaccine would be administered by January 1, but that effort has been delayed.
The Pfizer vaccine must be kept in ultra-low temperatures, which creates a logistical challenge for hospitals and smaller facilities that do not have special freezers that can reach minus 75 degrees Celsius. It can be packed in dry ice for transport and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Health officials across the U.S. have been preparing for months to distribute vaccines and safely deliver them to distant communities.
MidMichigan Medical Center purchased two deep-frozen freezers before the Pfizer vaccine was authorized by the FDA.
Another Moderna vaccine can be stored at minus -20 degrees Celsius and kept in the refrigerator for up to 30 days before expiring.
The vaccine is giving a glimpse of hope to healthcare professionals, who are struggling to care for a record number of Covid-19 cases.
At least 340,956 people died in the United States because of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, and health experts fear that the spread will get even worse because of increased travel and family reunions over the holidays.
Alpena County had 1,134 reported Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths.
Bates said helping to deliver the vaccine has been a powerful experience.
“The feelings in the room and the emotions were tangible, they were real and it was something special to be a part of,” he said.
He has made another delivery since then and has two more trips scheduled for next week.
