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Beaumont Health says it is canceling 1,884 appointments this week for patients who had to receive the second booster dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
The reason: “an unexpected and significant reduction in the allocation of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from the state of Michigan,” the health system said in a news release.
Beaumont said he sends an email to patients to let them know their appointments have been canceled, but will also try to contact patients without an email address by phone.
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The health system said it would reschedule the second dose of appointments – it would be driven at the same time and day of the week, but with a one-week delay. So appointments initially planned for February 18 will be moved to February 25.
However, it depends on the state health department that sends enough vaccines to Beaumont to keep the appointments.
‘We are so disappointed that we had to cancel these appointments. “Our teams worked with the state around the clock and all weekend to try to secure the second dose of vaccine we requested,” Beaumont Health chief operating officer Carolyn Wilson said in a statement. “We remain committed to vaccinating patients as soon as possible as soon as we receive our administered doses of vaccine.”
Beaumont also announced Monday that it will not be able to open any new first-dose Pfizer vaccine appointments at the Beaumont Service Center in Southfield before it can receive more vaccinations.
The health system has the capacity to vaccinate 50,000 people a week, but this week only 2,200 doses are getting from the state.
Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said the allocation of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in Michigan should be divided among state and local health departments, tribes, hospitals, pharmacies and federally qualified health care centers.
The Michigan National Guard and state health officials worked together to ask local health departments and hospitals how many second doses of the vaccines would be needed, Sutfin said.
“The second dose is needed for Pfizer and Moderna to be completely vaccinated against this virus, and it’s crucial that anyone with a first dose can get a second dose,” she said.
“We are addressing the shortage of second doses in the orders we send for shipping this week. Approximately 37,300 doses of the ‘first dose’ allocation should be used to ensure complete vaccination for individuals required for a second dose. ‘
According to Michigan, Sutfin will receive 278,000 total doses from the federal government this week. Of these, 157 475 were earmarked as first doses and 120 525 are expected to be used for second doses.
The recommended space for a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine is three weeks, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that it is still effective if the second dose is administered up to six weeks after the first dose.
Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.