St. Luke’s gears up for coronavirus vaccinations coming for Idaho health care workers
St. Luke’s Health System announced that it has received the designated equipment it will need to hold coronavirus vaccines, and it hopes to vaccinate some front-line workers as soon as possible.
The vaccine’s manufacturer, Pfizer, told the hospital system last week that the first shipments are on the way and are expected to arrive in the next few days.
Depending on emergency use authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, vaccines could be administered to the first St. Luke’s health care workers as early as the end of this week.
Hospital systems in Idaho have repeatedly said they need to keep staff healthy, and some were struggling with nurses, doctors and other staff who must quarantine because of either a coronavirus infection or exposure.
Scott Milner, senior director of pharmacy for St. Luke’s Health System, said in a Friday interview that the hospital has been working since July to prepare for the vaccine. In September, they realized they would need new equipment.
The coronavirus vaccines must be stored at temperatures lower than others that St. Luke’s previously has stored — subzero temperatures.
The Pfizer vaccine will be delivered in specially-designed, temperature-controlled thermal shippers that use dry ice to maintain the recommended storage temperature of minus-70 Celsius (minus-94 Fahrenheit) for up to 10 days unopened. The packages are equipped with GPS-enabled thermal sensors to track the location and temperature of all shipments.
Each box weighs 70 pounds — 50 pounds of that is the dry ice. St. Luke’s volunteered to be a test site and recently received a sample vaccine box to ensure the process worked. The test was a success and temperatures inside the sample box stayed at minus-80 Celsius, even through transport.
Because of the ultra-low temperatures, the vaccines will be handled with special leather gloves that St. Luke’s purchased with the help of community donations to the St. Luke’s COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The freezers can each hold 20,000 doses of vaccine and have multiple layers of backup alarms and notification systems to ensure their ultra-cold temperatures are always adequate. The hospital also has a backup system with a storage chest holding 500 pounds of dry ice as a precaution.
The COVID-19 vaccine can be stored inside that chest for up to 20 days, as long as the dry ice is replenished every five days, according to a St. Luke’s news release.
Milner said it has been an evolving process, but the way different manufacturers and hospital systems have worked together has been rewarding.
“One of the things that shocked me the first first time I heard it was the smallest shipping amount that would be provided was 975 doses,” Milner said about COVID-19 vaccine orders.
St. Luke’s said it plans to collaborate with smaller hospitals that need the vaccine but do not need 975 doses. That means they have to maintain the low temperatures while sharing needed doses.
“While it might seem fast in some aspects, I feel that we have done our due diligence and our homework, and evolve as we learn more,” he said.
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is also expected to arrive at St. Luke’s in coming weeks, but details for distribution still are being finalized.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
