When a hospital chain in South Florida announced this month that it had 12,000 public appointments for vaccinations against Covid-19, Anari Patel jumped at the chance. With a doctor’s letter on hand to confirm she’s in a high-risk group, she spent three hours looking at an online scheduling website.
It worked, and she got an appointment for February 19th. “It was like winning the jackpot,” she said.
But the price evaporates days later. Patel said she received a text message from the hospital chain, Baptist Health South Florida, this week, saying it did not have enough stock. This not only canceled her appointment, but also all appointments for the first time starting Wednesday.
The deployment of the U.S. vaccine has not yet been perfect, but states and cities have tried to increase the spread and make sure vaccines do not expire. Now they are worried that the distribution may come before the offer. Some health care providers and cities say they are running out of doses within a few days of being awarded weekly, a change from a few weeks ago when local vaccines had trouble getting the stock they received.
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Covid-19 vaccines will always fall short after only receiving U.S. approval for emergency use last month, but patients, hospitals and local officials say even the meager allocation was unpredictable.
San Francisco said this week that the supplies its city health department received on Tuesday could disappear by the end of Thursday, while the city of New York warned that the weekly offer would not last until the weekend either.
“This country is powerful. I do not know why we are like that, ”says Patel (45), who has diabetes, a high-risk condition. She said she knows there is a nationwide dose shortage, but based on the number of appointments available: “We thought they had the numbers.”
Baptist Health South Florida did not respond to questions about what happened to its offer, and it did not give patients much notice of the cancellations and informed them Tuesday that all appointments for Wednesday or later are void.
“Due to restrictions on the vaccination of COVID-19 vaccines, we must suspend all vaccination for the first dose to the community,” the health system said in a statement to Facebook.
“All appointments booked for January 20 and all later dates are now canceled, and we are not taking any new appointments,” he said. There is no effect on appointments on the second dose, the report reads.
Although President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday promised a looming boost in federal vaccine vaccination coordination, states and cities are unlikely to be able to count on an immediate increase in supply. The number of vaccines sent has remained relatively low since the end of December.
Vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech will send about 8.6 million doses next week, which, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will be split equally between those set aside for first shots and second shots.
Except for next week, states did not get a good idea of what to expect, dr. Marcus Plescia, medical chief of the Association of Civil Servants and Territorial Health Officers, said.
“No prediction was given to them. They’re all a little bit in the dark about it, ‘he said. State and territorial officials are looking for answers or federal officials are taking down as much supply as possible, he added.
The New York province of Bergen, the state’s population, is expected to run out of vaccine doses on Saturday, despite a shipment of 2,000 doses this week, NBC New York reported.
In San Francisco, dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s health director, said the city’s dose allocation was up and down, with 12,000 doses last week, but only 1,775 doses this week.
“This unreliable source makes it very difficult to plan, and that’s one of the main reasons why we are not going to get any more vaccine,” he said, warning that it could happen on Thursday.
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Part of the supply disruption was a pause for the use of a dose of doses manufactured by Moderna, after some people who received it were treated for possible allergic reactions, Colfax said. The break has since been lifted, giving a temporary boost to the state’s offer.
The city is expected to open three new mass vaccination sites in the coming days, despite the volatile supply. Mayor London Breed said in an information session that the plans are continuing because the sites will also be provided by private healthcare providers, who will receive a grant from California that is separate from the grant from the city health department.
“As we make progress, we simply need more vaccinations,” she said.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the city will receive 53,000 doses in its stock this week, which combined with unused doses from last week would be enough to last until Thursday or Friday.
“We literally have nothing left to give,” he said during an information session, warning that vaccination appointments could be canceled as a result.