Urgent Vaccine Freezer Breakdown in Seattle: "People Ready for Vaccination, Please Come Quickly"

Within 12 Hours of Vaccine Expiry... 1,650 Residents Vaccinated in Short Timeframe

Medical staff receiving the Moderna vaccine at a medical facility in Mississippi, USA. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana] At a hospital in Seattle, Washington, USA, a COVID-19 vaccine freezer malfunctioned, leading to a rush to vaccinate 1,650 Seattle residents in a short period of time.

On the 28th (local time) at 5 p.m., The Seattle Times reported that the ultra-low temperature freezer storing 1,650 doses of the Moderna vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Hospital broke down.

The Moderna vaccine requires a freezer maintaining a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius. It can be stored in a regular freezer, but if exposed to room temperature, its shelf life is within 12 hours.

Permanente Hospital was preparing to vaccinate medical staff and firefighters, but due to the freezer malfunction, vaccinations had to be administered quickly.

When the freezer containing the vaccines broke down, the hospital reached out to nearby hospitals and the local community and began vaccinating mainly elderly people aged 65 and over.

As this information spread on social networking services (SNS) such as Twitter and Facebook, long lines formed outside Permanente Hospital. According to The Seattle Times, many people appeared early in the morning wearing bathrobes or slippers.

A Seattle hospital official explained the situation at the time, saying, "We tried to prioritize elderly patients eligible for vaccination, but the priority was to vaccinate everyone before the vaccine's shelf life expired."

In the end, many people showed up to get vaccinated, allowing all vaccinations to be completed within 12 hours and preventing vaccine waste.

This is not the first case where a freezer malfunction was averted by vaccinating many people before the vaccine's expiration date to prevent wastage.

At Adventist Health Ukiah Hospital in Mendocino County, California, when the freezer storing Moderna vaccines broke down on the 4th, 830 people were rapidly vaccinated within 2 hours.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.