Providence, state announce second dose delays, postpone appointments
Weather-related delays in shipping have prompted Providence to postpone their second-dose vaccine appointments scheduled for the next two days.
Providence is postponing appointments for Feb. 19 and 20 at Providence St. Peter Hospital and Feb. 20 at Providence Medical Group in Lacey, according to a Thursday news release. Appointments for the Feb. 21 mass vaccination event at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds in Lewis County also are postponed, the release read.
Winter storms across the nation have impacted vaccine shipments, affecting more than 90% of the state’s allocation this week, according to a state news release. The delays mean many providers across the state are being forced to postpone clinics and mass vaccination clinics, including two in Kennewick and Spokane.
Over 1.2 million vaccine doses have been given across the state, representing about 83% of the 1.45 million doses that have been delivered to health-care providers and long-term care programs, the state release read.
A small number of vaccine doses will still be administered on Feb. 18 and 19 at the Providence Medical Group in Lacey, according to the Providence release. However, the Feb. 19-20 appointments for the second dose Pfizer clinics at St. Peter Hospital are being rescheduled to Feb. 23-24.
There is still no new date for the Feb. 20 Moderna clinic at Providence Medical Group in Lacey, nor for the Feb. 21 mass vaccination site, the release read. Providence is still working to verify when it will receive the next allotment of Moderna doses before it reschedules those events.
“We realize this is an inconvenience,” the release read. “Every person who has an appointment to be rescheduled has been notified via email, but we realize some people may miss this email.”
For those without email, Providence is getting the word out through social media and will post notices at the vaccination sites, according to the release.
“We will be rescheduling all postponed appointments as soon as we receive our next allotment of vaccine,” the release read. “We expect to communicate with our patients about their rescheduled appointments within the next week.”
A two-week postponement for second doses should not have any health implications, according to the release.
As of Thursday, the state is expecting weekly vaccine shipments from the federal government to gradually increase over the next three weeks, according to the state news release.
Next week, 263,570 total doses are expected, including 146,110 first doses and 117,460 second doses. By the week of March 7, total allocated doses are expected to increase to 292,220 with equal amounts of first and second doses, the release read.
However, this increase is still not enough to meet demand, according to the release. For next week, providers requested 436,720 total doses, which is about 173,150 more than the state expects to receive.
Given supply constraints, the state plans to allocate more doses to counties with larger populations that qualify under Phases 1A and 1B Tier 1, the release read. Additionally, the state is prioritizing second-dose requests, meaning first-doses may continue to be limited.
Additionally, the state also announced more vaccines will come to Washington through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. As a result, more pharmacies will begin to participate in the program, including Walmart, Rite Aid and Kroger, the release read. Current participants include Safeway/Albertsons, Costco and Health Mart Independent Pharmacies.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 2:02 PM.
