FRANKLIN, Indiana — Vaccination clinics across Indiana say they need all the COVID-19 vaccine the federal government can send.
One Johnson County clinic that was running low on vaccine asked for help and got a lot more than it counted on, creating yet another problem to overcome.
Friday, there were no lines, no waiting for vaccinations.
After last week, nurses at Johnson Memorial Health needed a break.
"Were you getting slammed?" 13News asked Dr. Craig Moorman.
"Yes, I think you call it call it that. Yes, yes," Moorman replied.
The Johnson County Health officer went on to explain that the clinic started running out of vaccine.
So, he called the state for help, asking and hoping to get more doses of the scarce vaccine, hoping to get a couple hundred more. Instead, they got 975 more doses.
"We had to use it in about three-and-a-half days because they were already thawed out," he said.
That created yet another problem. In a matter of hours, the clinic went from not having enough vaccine to having too much and not enough people to give it to.
"It's like fighting a battle. You have to respond to the situation. You have to be flexible," Moorman said.
More workers were called in. They also activated an on-call list of people willing to be vaccinated on short notice.
"Senior citizens, first responders, hospital workers, county workers and people who are still in the trenches and exposed to the public and at risk," Moorman said.
Workers administered 2,000 vaccinations or about twice as many than a typical week. Not a single dose was wasted.
Clinics are learning that when things don't go as planned they have to adapt and improvise in a struggle, against a problematic vaccine delivery system and pandemic that is anything but predictable.