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A major northern California healthcare provider who had to cancel 40,000 appointments for the second injection of the COVID-19 vaccine will receive another batch of doses from the state next week to reduce the shortage, said Thursday a spokesperson.
The announcement came a day after tens of thousands of Sutter Health patients were crushed to learn that their last shot would have to wait.
Angeline Sheets, director of media relations for Sutter Health, said the state had committed to sending the supplier 30,000 doses next week and promised an additional 30,000 doses the following week. In the meantime, some counties and public health providers have shared their doses with Sutter to allow patients to receive their second injection.
Although Sutter still needs more doses for 90,000 scheduled appointments for the second dose, “it’s a step in the right direction,” Sheets said in a telephone interview.
Sutter patients who went online to check the status of their scheduled appointments said they discovered the cancellations on Wednesday. Some have tried with fury and in vain to find another supplier.
Affected patients live in 22 counties, including the Bay Area. Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based nonprofit health care system, operates approximately 24 acute care hospitals and more than 200 clinics in northern California. The provider serves more than 3 million Californians.
Sutter said on Wednesday he may have to cut another 50,000 appointments for patients due for a second injection, after announcing the 40,000 cancellations.
“The state was very clear in telling us that we are NOT to withhold doses for the second doses, and we followed those instructions as we quickly set up mass vaccination sites and received first injections into the hospital. arms, ”Sutter spokeswoman Amy Thoma Tan told an email.
“We had been reassured for weeks that if we administered the first dose, the state would guarantee that we would receive the second dose allocation, and we have not done so until now.”
Sheets said all appointments for first doses through March 9 also had to be canceled.
“Due to persistent allocation issues, we are advising patients with second dose appointments scheduled until March 9 to let them know that their current appointment needs to be canceled due to insufficient supply, ”she said.
Patients will be called in seven to ten days to reschedule their appointments, ”Sheets said.
Patricia Henle, 66, a lawyer who lives in Marin County, said she learned after going online on Wednesday that appointments for the second Pfizer vaccine had been canceled for her and her husband, who is 74 and suffers from cancer and diabetes. They were due to receive their second dose in Sacramento on Saturday.
She said the couple had not received any emails from Sutter and had called the Sutter vaccination site in Sacramento to confirm that their appointments had been canceled. She said she was told it could take several weeks to get Sutter’s second vaccine and that she would have to check with other providers.
She then spent six hours calling pharmacies and medical groups to no avail. One of them only had the Moderna vaccine. Two providers told her that she could only schedule appointments for the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, she said.
“If I had told them it would be my first shot, they would have taken me, but I didn’t want to lie,” she said. “I am a lawyer.” She said that the first and second doses of Pfizer are the same and that she could have received the second dose if she had not told the truth.
“It’s mind-boggling that I have to do this,” said Henle. “I do my best to do it in an honorable and honest manner, and I feel like a fool for doing it if you want to know the truth.”
Sutter said he received more than 350,000 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines from state and county allocations. In the past three to four weeks, the state’s doses were either insufficient or did not arrive at all, according to Sutter.
“We urgently asked the state for additional allowances, and we did so by email and phone,” Sheets said. “We have been incredibly clear on our needs.”
She said suppliers in Alameda County, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sacramento were among those who agreed to provide doses to Sutter. “I want to say how grateful we are for their willingness to share their supply,” Sheets said.
She said the shortage evolved before Blue Shield of California assumed control of vaccine distribution in the state. The giant insurer has a contract with the state to create a vaccine delivery algorithm, focused on both speed of delivery and fairness.
President Biden has said the United States will have enough vaccines for every adult by the end of May.
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