How 1,500 Unused Vaccines Help Convince John Bel Edwards to Be Eligible in Louisiana | Coronavirus

When Governor John Bel Edwards earlier this week extended vaccine admissions to anyone aged 16 and over with one of several common health conditions, he cites providers’ reports of a ‘sluggish’ demand for appointments.

At the Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, officials first noticed a decline in interest on March 2, when 124 coronavirus vaccination appointments went awry. The number grew rapidly to about 300 open slots per day.

By Sunday, the hospital had put 1,500 unused doses on its shelves.

“That was when we said, ‘We need to be eligible. We need to see more people vaccinated in the community,'” said LaDonna Williams, vice president of operations at Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group. praised the Edwards administration. because they moved so fast at their request.

Louisiana is now among the most open states in the US when it comes to who can get the chance. It is estimated that nearly three out of four adults in Louisiana meet the broad category of “overweight” or “obese” according to the new rules announced Tuesday, and many others now qualify under medical conditions such as cancer, high blood pressure or are smokers.

“We are trying to find the sweet spot and if there is a little daylight in the scheduling, it is a message to us to expand,” said dr. Joe Kanter, the state’s health director, said Tuesday.

As expected, the demand for the life-saving beat soon followed. Ochsner Health said it had submitted about 500 hourly requests for appointments after Edwards’ announcement, and Baton Rouge General filled 700 slots within 90 minutes. At the newly opened Mass Vaccination Center at the Ernest N. Morial Conference Center in New Orleans, appointments available earlier in the morning were filled days in advance.

Our Lady of the Lake said the appointments have been booked for seven days from Thursday afternoon – and the remaining doses will soon be injected into the arms.

“Our goal is to keep no vaccine on the shelf any longer than is absolutely necessary,” Edwards said Tuesday about his decision. “The more people are vaccinated, and the faster it happens, the greater the chance that we will return to normal.”

Louisiana currently ranks 29th in the country for the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated, with 10.5% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

Some providers have said that they have not experienced the so-called ‘slack’ in appointments, but they still welcome the expansion because it makes people think of taking it sooner rather than later.

Dr. Jeffrey Elder, LCMC Health chief executive overseeing distribution at the Morial Center, said the extended eligibility “increases the interest in being vaccinated.

The mass vaccination center is currently administering about 3,000 doses per week, but Elder said the amounts could be known quickly in an instant.

“We can do three times as much as we do now, without sweating, if we have enough doses,” Elder said.

Louisiana expects to receive about 100,000 doses next week, a shipment similar to previous weeks. Officials expect a significant increase in doses in April, but the exact numbers are still unknown. The state said a small consignment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could arrive next week, though a more substantive award is not expected until the end of the month.

The head of Ochsner’s vaccination operation, Dawn Pevey, said it rarely happens that they end the week with unused doses. Still, she said demand has declined briefly among teachers, who were eligible on Feb. 18. Pevey said Ochsner recently set aside 700 doses for a single opportunity for teachers, although many were diverted elsewhere after it became clear there would be surplus.

Pevey said Ochsner can administer up to 75,000 doses per week if supplies are available, and in January distributed about 25,000 doses over a two-day period to “test” its operations.

“We are willing to apply as much as we are given,” Pevey said.