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Dr. Richard Bates drove nearly 150 miles earlier this month to bring a cooler with 130 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine from MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland to his hospital in Alpena, a city of about 10,000 people in the Lake’s Thunder Bay. Ferret.
The trip takes nearly three hours each way and Alpena is about 70 miles off the interstate, so much of the trip is on two-lane highways.
Bates is an OB-GYN physician and regional vice president for medical affairs at MidMichigan Health, who received a shipment of 2,925 doses of the vaccine on Dec. 16.
It was just two days after an ICU nurse at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, became one of the first people in the United States to receive the vaccine.
MidMichigan Health also shipped doses to other facilities in its system, which serves 23 counties.
Bates is from Alpena and compared delivering the vaccine to her hometown to delivering a baby.
“Seeing our staff get the vaccine was an incredible experience, much like giving birth to a new baby and handing that baby over to parents, who have just spent months and sometimes years thinking and dreaming and putting their hopes in that baby, “she told CNN’s Bianna. Golodryga. “Seeing our staff cry and taking pictures of them receiving the vaccine and sharing it with their families was very special.”
The US government’s Operation Warp Speed had promised that 20 million doses of vaccines would be delivered by January 1, but that effort is overdue.
Pfizer vaccine must be kept in extremely cold temperatures, creating a logistical challenge for smaller hospitals and facilities that don’t have special freezers that can reach at least -75 degrees Celsius. It can be packed in dry ice for transport and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
US health officials have been preparing for months to distribute the vaccines and deliver them safely to remote communities.
MidMichigan Medical Center purchased two ultra-cold freezers before the FDA cleared the Pfizer vaccine.
Another Moderna vaccine can be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius and kept in a refrigerator for up to 30 days before it expires.
The vaccine is providing a ray of hope to healthcare workers, who are struggling to treat a record number of Covid-19 cases.
At least 340,956 people have died in the United States from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University and health experts fear the spread will get even worse due to increased travel and family gatherings during the holidays.
Alpena County has reported 1,134 Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths.
Bates said helping administer the vaccine has been a powerful experience.
“The feelings in the room and the emotions were tangible, they were real and that was really something special to be a part of,” he said.
He has made another delivery since then and has two more trips scheduled next week.
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