To vaccinate veterans, health care workers must cross mountains, plains and tundra

By Patricia Kime

Kaiser Health News

A Learjet 31 took off before daybreak from Helena Regional Airport in Montana, carrying six Veterans Affairs medical providers and 250 doses of historic cargo cradled in a plug-in cooler designed to minimize breakage.

Even in a state where 80-mph speed limits are normal, ground transportation across long distances is risky for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, which must be used within 12 hours of thawing.

The group’s destination was Havre, 30 miles from the Canadian border. About 500 military veterans live in and around the town, and millions more re...