Snow trapped health workers give vaccine to other drivers trapped on Oregon highway

Grants Pass – Oregon health workers who were trapped in a snowstorm on the way back from a COVID-19 vaccination event went from car to car injecting stranded drivers before several doses expired. Josephine County Public Health said on Facebook that the “makeshift vaccination clinic” happened after about 20 employees were stopped in traffic on a highway after a vaccination clinic on Tuesday.

CBS Medford, Oregon, KTVL-TV affiliate reported that they were trapped near Hayes Hill while on their way to Grants Pass after working at a vaccine clinic at Illinois Valley High School.

Six of the doses were reserved for people on Grants Pass, but “the snow meant that those doses would not reach them before they expired,” the health department said in a Facebook post.

KTVL explained that the doses would have expired six hours after they were opened.

Not wanting to waste them, employees went from vehicle to vehicle, offering people the chance to get the vaccine. A county ambulance was available for security.

All doses were administered, including one to an employee of the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office who arrived too late for the vaccination clinic, but ended up being interrupted with the others, officials said.

Josephine County Public Health Director Mike Weber said it was one of the “coolest operations in which he participated”.