Thanks to a CHS reader for the image. We hope you have your chance. (Image: CHS)
The eligible. The connected. The lucky one.
Late on Thursday night, word spread across the city that one of the emergency COVID-19 vaccination events you have heard about was happening here in Seattle.
A freezer failure. An expiration at 5:30. A race to distribute more than 1,000 doses.
Shortly after 11 pm on Thursday, officials from the Swedish health system announced its community vaccine clinic in Seattle University was taking action after closing earlier this week due to a shortage of supplies. “URGENT: We have 588 appointments from MODERN DOSE 1 available on January 28 from 11 pm to January 29 at 2 am”, read the message. The race has started to make an appointment.
Hundreds and perhaps thousands lined up in large crowds there and UW Medicine which was also triggered for the emergency vaccination effort. In total, about 1,300 doses were at risk.
URGENT: We have 588 MODERN DOSE 1 services available January 28 from 11 pm to January 29 2 am Click the link to book For additional slots until 2 am, click on SHOW MORE and select TOMORROW. Must be Phase 1a or Phase 1B / Level 1. https://t.co/gtVkBKb9va pic.twitter.com/w3bKmQqbHk
– Swedish (@Swedish) January 29, 2021
At the outset, the Swede insisted that only those in the first phase of vaccination currently eligible – health professionals, those aged 65 and over, those over 50 living in multigenerational families – were eligible. But the message varied overnight and rumors spread that eligibility – and nominations – didn’t matter.
The Swede announced at the end of the night that those by appointment would be vaccinated. The line reports detailed volunteers about the 65-year search and last-night success stories in the middle of the night.
The Seattle Times reports that a freezer failure in the Kaiser system triggered the urgent deployment, with officers turning to the few facilities, including the Seattle U clinic that were already assembled and ready to be deployed en masse.
The last emergency bottle was used at around 3 am.
Many of the older seekers are used to the early hours of the morning. State and local officials have struggled to meet initial vaccine deployment goals as the federal distribution system grows under the Biden government, leaving many of those eligible in an evening struggle to schedule any available time when they are online.
Volunteers * ran to the corner * right now, minutes before the last doses expired and vaccinated this 75 year old lady who runs a day care center! Around 3:30 in the morning! Unreal pic.twitter.com/ZbnfxnrIK7
– David Ryder (@davidmryder) January 29, 2021
Emergency vaccine implantation scenes in Seattle follow other stories from across the country, where medical teams and volunteers have gathered against all odds of firing when freezers fail or roads are blocked.
It also arrives while the state has suddenly reduced the level of reopening and social gathering, making its region more populous eligible for reduced restrictions as of Monday, even as fears of a more virulent strain of the virus have increased.
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