Roaring Fork Schools Superintendent Rob Stein received some unexpected pleasant news Wednesday morning when Valley View Hospital called to say it had 50 extra COVID-19 vaccines for the day.

“I want to emphasize it’s a rare exception, though,” Stein said during the Wednesday night school board meeting “They are working hard to honor the stages of the phases, and right now they’re still working on people over 70 and maybe some other healthcare folks.

“Just because of very unusual circumstances they didn’t want to waste any vaccines, and we wanted to of course help out with that,” Stein said.

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Due to traffic delays on Interstate 70 this week, Valley View wasn’t going to be able to administer all of the vaccines to the 70 and up age group the batch was intended for. Once the vaccine serum is prepared, there is only six hours until it expires, so Valley View contacted Stein given the time crunch.

Stein had just pulled into the parking lot of Glenwood Springs High School and told faculty the news immediately.

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“Everybody who was available who wanted one in that building we were able to vaccinate… Once you get your first vaccine, it’s a two shot commitment so they scheduled everybody for a follow-up shot in about four weeks,” Stein said.

There were more than 50 faculty members at GSHS who wanted to receive the vaccine, but due to absences or the need to stay at work they did not get vaccinated yesterday.

Stein said the plan for the district continues to be to wait until it’s the school faculty’s turn to be vaccinated and to plan accordingly for efficient distribution at that time. He added that, while yesterday’s event was unpredictable, many staff members sent him an email expressing their gratitude for the opportunity.

jpeterson@postindependent.com