RUMFORD — Thirty doses of soon-to-expire Moderna coronavirus vaccine offered by Med-Care Ambulance to local school employees this week were instead ordered to be sent to Rumford Hospital, after the Maine Center for Disease Control was alerted to the plan.
Regional School Unit 10 Superintendent Deb Alden said she learned Monday about the offer and that the vaccine needed to be used before it expired Thursday.
“I jumped on it because of course I would do that for my staff,” she said.
Working from her home on Presidents Day, she spent about 10 hours contacting those 60 years and older with underlying conditions to fill Wednesday time slots at the Med-Care Ambulance headquarters in Mexico.
“So, I was texting administrators and trying to get information and I got people that were available, although some people weren’t able or weren’t around,” she said.
On Tuesday evening, she got a call from Med-Care Ambulance advising her someone called CDC to complain about the spur-of-the-moment vaccine clinic.
“And so, Maine CDC got hold of both Med-Care and Rumford Hospital and basically told Med-Care that if they gave the vaccines on Wednesday, they would have their license taken away,” Alden said.
The vaccines were sent to Rumford Hospital on Wednesday, she said.
“I’m hoping that people are getting (the vaccines) today,” she said, “because nobody would want vaccines to go to waste.”
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