COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus Regional Health staff at its COVID-19 vaccination clinic avoided wasting vaccine doses during the storm even though the clinic closed early Monday afternoon due to snowfall.
Staff members, along with volunteers, scrambled to contact people who had scheduled vaccination appointments to either reschedule for another day or move their appointments up earlier in the day before the clinic closed at around 2:30 p.m., said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
Clinic staff and volunteers were able to reach everyone who had a vaccination appointment scheduled for Tuesday, DeClue said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which CRH is administering, must be stored at ultra-cold temperatures and has to be thawed before being used, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It can take 2 to 3 hours to thaw the vaccines in a refrigerator or 30 minutes to two hours at room temperature depending on the number of vials being thawed.
The vaccine is thawed from the deep freeze and it cannot be refrozen, placing those administering the vaccine in a race against time to use the thawed doses before they spoil.
“Fortunately, no vaccine was wasted yesterday thanks to the foresight of the staff to thaw only enough needed to accommodate what they were able to get in during yesterday’s shortened schedule,” DeClue said. “We also really appreciate the patients that were able to change their schedules around and come in earlier in the day.”
The winter storm, which blanketed much of Indiana in snow and brought bone-jarring cold temperatures to Bartholomew County, forced the closure of more than 70 COVID-19 vaccination clinics across the state, including clinics operated by CRH and the Bartholomew County Health Department.
The National Weather Service reported upwards of 8 inches of snow in Bartholomew County as of 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
County highway officials said snow drifts were as high as 3 feet in some areas.
Bartholomew County was placed Watch Level Red warning designation for travel on Monday, limiting people to “emergency travel only.”
At noon Tuesday, that warning was downgraded to Watch Level Orange, which removed the “emergency travel only” requirement.
However, motorists should limit themselves only to essential travel such as going to and from work, county officials said
CRH’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic will operate at regular hours today, DeClue said.
The Bartholomew County Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic will be open “if the county buildings are open and we are not in red status,” said Amanda Organist, the department’s director of nursing. Bartholomew County office buildings are expected to be open Wednesday, said Shannon Cooke, director of Bartholomew County Emergency Management.
Individuals who need to reschedule their appointments can click on the link in their last confirmation text message or email or call 211 if they need assistance, the Indiana State Department of Health said in a statement Tuesday.
As of 5 a.m. Monday morning, 10,317 Bartholomew County residents had received their first COVID-19 shot, or roughly 12.3% of the county’s population, according to state records.
A total of 3,828 Bartholomew County had received their second shot and were considered fully vaccinated as of Monday morning, or nearly 4.6% of the county’s population.
