Hospital Scrambles To Find Patients Before Freezer Failure Ruins 830 Vaccines
By Vanessa Romo
January 5, 2021
A team of fast-acting health care workers saved the day and potentially hundreds of lives on Monday after a freezer malfunction nearly destroyed 830 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Somewhere around 2 a.m. the compressor of the freezer holding vials of the medicine at the Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Mendocino County, Calif., failed, President Judson Howe told NPR.
That started a ticking clock on the shelf life of the vaccines, which can only be used for 12 hours once they’re removed from refrigeration of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit.