Hundreds Vaccinated In Seattle After Late Night Freezer Failure

SEATTLE — A malfunction with a freezer storing precious doses of coronavirus vaccine turned into a lucky break for hundreds in Seattle Thursday night, thanks to some quick thinking and the power of social media.

It all started with an urgent call on Swedish's Twitter page just before 11 p.m. offering hundreds of immediate appointments for eligible people. All the slots were filled in the span of an hour.

The Seattle Times reports a freezer at Kaiser Permanente holding hundreds of doses of Moderna vaccine failed around 9 p.m., meaning they would all go to waste if not put to use within a few hours. According to KIRO 7, Kaiser quickly alerted its neighbors of the issue and delivered doses to a Swedish clinic at Seattle University and two UW Medicine hospitals. The clinics enlisted medics from the Seattle Fire Department to help administer the shots and worked fast to spread the word among the community.

After news of the emergency clinics swept across social media, hundreds lined up for a chance, and many stayed into the early morning hours.

Swedish told KING 5 that priority was given to those in current eligibility tiers, but the goal was to make sure every dose was put to use, regardless of status. KOMO reports roughly 1,600 doses were delivered to the three clinics by 3:30 a.m. Friday, and every single one of them found an arm in time.

Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County's health officer, addressed the late-night incident in his weekly coronavirus briefing Friday, saying a freezer door had not closed properly, allowing the vaccines to warm to a point where they had to be used before 5:30 a.m. Friday. Duchin also confirmed that Public Health - Seattle & King County advised the clinics to offer doses to anyone, regardless of eligibility, if they were unable to find enough qualified recipients in the middle of the night.

"Last night was unusual, just by virtue of the large number of doses," Duchin said. "We would never have expected to have over 1,000 doses all of a sudden that needed to be used quickly, for which there were no appointments...It's great that our community health care providers rallied and supported one another and actually made use of every single one of those vaccine doses."