Kudos to the staff of Ukiah Valley Medical Center:
"A refrigerator holding vials of coronavirus vaccine failed at Ukiah Valley Medical Center on Monday, prompting a frantic effort to inoculate hundreds of people in less than three hours before the medicine expired.
By the time staff discovered the problem, 830 doses of the Moderna vaccine had been thawing for more than nine hours, Ukiah Valley Medical Center chief medical officer Dr. Bessant Parker said. The medical center had little choice but to distribute the vaccine freely and rapidly, including members of the general public who heard about the emergency and lined up outside the medical center in hopes of getting a shot.
“Ultimately, it is vaccinating members of the community,” Parker said. “It doesn’t matter who. It’s an emergency situation to save vaccines.”
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored at super-cold temperatures, the Moderna version is stored in freezers not much different from what you have in your kitchen. Under CDC guidelines, a thawed, unpunctured vial can be kept for up to 12 hours between 46-77 degrees Fahrenheit after it has been thawed for one hour at room temperature or for 2½ hours in a refrigerator. Scientific American wrote that a thawed vial can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 30 days. Vials cannot be refrozen."
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/ukiah-valley-med-center-discovers-thawing-vaccine-vials/
Meanwhile Governor Newsom makes it clear he's going to make it risky for providers to make such decisions:
"Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the state will enforce the order of people receiving vaccinations, issuing a warning to medical providers who may be tempted to cut a friend or relative in line to receive the shot.
“I just want to make this crystal clear: If you skip the line or you intend to skip the line, you will be sanctioned, you will lose your license,” Newsom said during a press conference. “You will not only lose your license, we will be very aggressive in terms of highlighting the reputational impacts as well.”
The first wave of coronavirus vaccines are intended for health care workers and those in high-risk congregate settings, such as skilled nursing facilities. Future phases of vaccine distribution likely will be targeted at those who work in education or child care, emergency services, food and agriculture, Newsom said.
But as the state receives “millions and millions of doses,” the Democratic governor said, it is clear “not every individual may hold themselves to those higher ethical standards, the Hippocratic oath which they’ve taken, and we are mindful of that.”
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article248135760.html
"A refrigerator holding vials of coronavirus vaccine failed at Ukiah Valley Medical Center on Monday, prompting a frantic effort to inoculate hundreds of people in less than three hours before the medicine expired.
By the time staff discovered the problem, 830 doses of the Moderna vaccine had been thawing for more than nine hours, Ukiah Valley Medical Center chief medical officer Dr. Bessant Parker said. The medical center had little choice but to distribute the vaccine freely and rapidly, including members of the general public who heard about the emergency and lined up outside the medical center in hopes of getting a shot.
“Ultimately, it is vaccinating members of the community,” Parker said. “It doesn’t matter who. It’s an emergency situation to save vaccines.”
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored at super-cold temperatures, the Moderna version is stored in freezers not much different from what you have in your kitchen. Under CDC guidelines, a thawed, unpunctured vial can be kept for up to 12 hours between 46-77 degrees Fahrenheit after it has been thawed for one hour at room temperature or for 2½ hours in a refrigerator. Scientific American wrote that a thawed vial can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 30 days. Vials cannot be refrozen."
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/ukiah-valley-med-center-discovers-thawing-vaccine-vials/
Meanwhile Governor Newsom makes it clear he's going to make it risky for providers to make such decisions:
"Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday the state will enforce the order of people receiving vaccinations, issuing a warning to medical providers who may be tempted to cut a friend or relative in line to receive the shot.
“I just want to make this crystal clear: If you skip the line or you intend to skip the line, you will be sanctioned, you will lose your license,” Newsom said during a press conference. “You will not only lose your license, we will be very aggressive in terms of highlighting the reputational impacts as well.”
The first wave of coronavirus vaccines are intended for health care workers and those in high-risk congregate settings, such as skilled nursing facilities. Future phases of vaccine distribution likely will be targeted at those who work in education or child care, emergency services, food and agriculture, Newsom said.
But as the state receives “millions and millions of doses,” the Democratic governor said, it is clear “not every individual may hold themselves to those higher ethical standards, the Hippocratic oath which they’ve taken, and we are mindful of that.”
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article248135760.html