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A vaccine shortage has forced Kaiser Permanente to cancel more than 5,000 appointments in Santa Clara County for seniors who were scheduled to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
In what Kaiser spokesman Marc Brown called a “very unfortunate development,” the hospital did not receive the vaccines it planned when people made appointments for late January and early. February.
Brown said staff had scheduled people for the vaccine based on previous deliveries and state and county “advice”.
“We understand the frustration this causes and we continue to do everything possible to increase vaccine supply, in partnership with county, state and federal governments,” Brown said in an email in response to questions. of the Times.
When additional vaccines are obtained, Kaiser will reschedule appointments, prioritizing those 75 and over, Brown said.
Kaiser will also try to postpone the 65 to 74 year olds, “but we need a significant increase in vaccine supply to plan for this population,” he said.
In the meantime, Brown said, people may be able to get vaccines from state and county providers.
Kaiser is not the only vaccine supplier who has been forced to cancel appointments due to doses that did not arrive as planned. Los Angeles County Ralphs Pharmacies last week had to cancel appointments after the county “scooped” 10,000 doses from the chain it wanted to use at mass vaccination sites, The Times reported. .
For Kaiser, the cancellations included around 750 appointments that had been scheduled from Jan.29 to Jan.31 for people 75 and older. 4,500 additional appointments scheduled from January 29 to February 5 for people aged 65 to 74 were also canceled.
In an email to members over the weekend, Kaiser CEO Greg A. Adams said the hospital has the capacity to deliver 200,000 vaccines per week in California, but is running out of doses. He predicted that it would be several months before the vaccine supply to the United States came close to what is needed.
Kaiser has more than 9.3 million members in California, but has so far only received about 300,000 doses statewide to immunize health workers and patients, he said.
Due to the limited supply, Kaiser is now restricting vaccines to healthcare workers, residents of long-term care facilities and people 75 and older, Adams said.
Kaiser expects supply to increase in the coming weeks and is ready to open additional locations and deploy mobile clinics to administer the doses, he said. Kaiser is also working with state and local governments and other health care providers, he said, to open high-volume sites statewide.
One in 1,000 Californians has now died from COVID-19. More than half – at least 22,500 Californians – have died since November 1.
Data collected by The Times shows that about 3.5 million Californians, or about 7.2% of the population, received a dose of the vaccine on Monday.
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