Two friends in the US who were buying groceries at a supermarket received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. A pharmacist approached them to ask if they were interested in getting the vaccine and told them that many first responders missed their vaccine appointments. As the vaccines couldn’t be kept at room temperature beyond a few hours, they would have to be discarded. David MacMillan is not a first responder or health care worker. So he was surprised when a pharmacist at a Giant Food in Washington, D.C. asked him and his friend if they wanted to get the Moderna vaccine.
He posted on the video-sharing platform TikTok about his experience at the supermarket chain’s location in Northeast D.C. on Friday. “She turned to us and was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got two doses of the vaccine and I’m going to have to throw them away if I don’t give them to somebody. We close in 10 minutes. Do you want the Moderna vaccine?” he said in the video.
MacMillan didn’t hesitate. The law school student said he posted the video of him getting the injection to help spread facts about the vaccine, ease concerns and dispel myths and rumors.
Giant Food said the D.C. Department of Health makes it clear: If there are extra doses that will expire, they should be given to anyone who will take them.