A major health provider in Northern California that had to cancel 40,000 appointments for a second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine will receive a second batch of doses from the state next week to reduce the shortage, a spokesman said Thursday.
The announcement came a day after thousands of Sutter Health patients were crushed to find out they would have to wait for their final shot.
Angelin Sheets, director of media relations at Sutter Health, said the state is committed to sending 30,000 doses to the provider next week and another 30,000 doses next week. In the meantime, some counties and public health providers have shared their dosage with Sutter so patients can receive a second shot.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Schitter said in a telephone interview, adding that Sutter still needed more doses for the second scheduled appointment of 20,000.
Sutter patients who went to check their scheduled appointment status went online Said they searched for the cancellation on Wednesday. Some made angry and futile attempts to find another provider.
Patients are affected live in 22 counties, including the Bay Area. Sutter Health, a for-profit healthcare system headquartered in Sacramento, operates approximately 24 intensive care hospitals and more than 200 clinics in Northern California. The provider serves more than 3 million people in California.
Sutter said Wednesday that after announcing the cancellation of 400,000, another 200,000 appointments may have to be made for patients scheduled to receive a second shot.
“The state was very clear in instructing us that we should not withhold any dose for the second dose, and we followed those instructions as we quickly stood at mass vaccination sites and received first dose shots in the arsenal,” said Amy Thomas Tenn. An email.
“We have been assured for weeks that if we give the first dose, the state can guarantee that we will get the second dose, and we do not have it yet.”
Sheets said all appointments for the first dose had to be canceled by March 9.
“As a result of ongoing allocation questions, we are in the process of notifying patients with a second dose appointment scheduled by March through to inform them that their current appointment needs to be canceled due to insufficient supply.”
Patients will be called in in seven to 10 days to be re-scheduled, ”Sheets said.
Patricia Henley, a lawyer who lives in Marine County, said she found out after going online on Wednesday that her appointment for a second shot of the Pfizer vaccine had been canceled for her and her husband, who is 74 and suffering from cancer and diabetes. He was due to receive his second dose in Sacramento on Saturday.
He said the couple did not receive any email from the suitor, and he called the suitor vaccination site in Sacramento to confirm that their appointments had been canceled. He said he was told it could take several weeks to take another shot of the shooter and he should check with other providers.
She then spent six hours calling pharmacies and medical groups, but to no avail. One had only a moderne vaccine. The two providers told her she could only list appointments for the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, he said.
“If I had told them it was going to be my first shot, they would have taken me, but I didn’t want to lie.” “I’m an attorney.” She said Pfizer’s first and second doses are the same, and she could have gotten a second dose if she hadn’t told the truth.
“It’s just a matter of me being bored,” Hanley said. “I’m trying very hard to do this respectfully and honestly, and I feel like a fool to do that if you want to know the truth.”
Sutter said he has received more than 350,000 doses of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines from state and county allocations. During the last three to four weeks, the dose from the state was either insufficient or, according to the suitor, it was not reached.
“We have urgently requested additional allocations from the state, and we are doing so by email and phone,” Sheets said. “We are incredibly clear about our need.”
He said the Almeida, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sacramento county providers were the ones who agreed to give the suitor a dose. “I want to say how grateful we are for their willingness to share their supplies,” Sheets said.
He said the shortage arose before California’s Blue Shield took control of the state’s vaccine distribution. The giant insurance company has contracted with the state to create an algorithm for vaccine distribution, which focuses on both delivery and equity.
President Biden has said that the U.S. By the end of May there will be enough vaccines for every adult.
