A refrigerated box of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Image: AFP/Joseph Prezioso
A Washington law student ended up getting more than just groceries during a recent supermarket trip, after randomly receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.
David MacMillan and his friend were at a Giant Food store in the United States capital last week and were surprised when a worker in the supermarket鈥檚 pharmacy section offered them each a shot.
Getting a vaccination had not been on the pair鈥檚 shopping list, and currently the vaccine is being prioritized for emergency responders and other frontline workers.
MacMillan posted a recording of him getting the shot on TikTok, where it had been viewed more than 700,000 times on the short-form video sharing platform as of Monday.
He said he and his friend were offered the vaccine because health care workers had not shown up for their appointments to get the doses.
The Moderna vaccine must be kept at very cold temperatures and quickly spoils once it has been removed from the freezer and its lid punctured.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important that when there鈥檚 so much misinformation swirling, that people are able to see that this is a good thing, this is a positive thing. We should be excited about being able to deal with the pandemic,鈥澛燤acMillan told a local NBC 黑料社 affiliate.
America鈥檚 vaccination rollout has got off to a slower-than-anticipated start, with 4.2 million people so far receiving initial doses of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna鈥� far below official predictions of 20 million by the New Year.
MacMillan said he expected to receive the second dose in his vaccination later this month.
In a statement, Giant said: 鈥淭he Moderna vaccine is valuable and lifesaving, and we are happy to have not wasted it and given this couple each a dose.鈥澛�RGA
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