Public health workers in Josephine County were returning from a mass vaccination clinic at Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction when about 20 members of the group were stranded in a snowstorm in Hayes Hill, the agency said.
They had six doses of the vaccine left with them.
To prevent these doses from being used before expiration, workers moved from car to car to give people a chance to get hit, the health department said.
An ambulance was waiting nearby, in case any recipient had an adverse reaction.
All six doses were given to drivers, including a sheriff’s employee who had planned to be at the mass vaccination event earlier but was stuck in the snow, the health department said.
Oregon has received more than 100,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines in the past week, according to the state’s coronavirus hub. The state is still in phase 1 of the vaccine launch, and health workers and teachers were among the first to obtain it.