‘Unpredictable’ supply may force Sutter Health to cancel 90,000 COVID vaccine appointments
Sutter Health has begun canceling previously scheduled second-dose COVID-19 vaccine appointments and may need to reschedule as many as 90,000 of them if California does not soon boost its “extremely limited and unpredictable” supply, according to the health provider.
The Northern California health system paused first-dose appointments shortly after opening them to patients 65 and older in early February, and then had to “indefinitely postpone scheduled first dose appointments through March 9,” Sutter Health told The Bee in an emailed statement.
Now, follow-up doses are starting to be canceled as well.
“We have been urgently requesting the additional allocations we need from the state in order to prevent canceling the more than 90,000 second dose vaccination appointments currently on our books. This is an extremely unfortunate situation for our patients, and one that is avoidable if we can get additional vaccine supply.”
Sutter Health says it is “in the process of notifying patients with second dose appointments scheduled through March 9 to let them know that their current appointment needs to be canceled due to insufficient supply, and we will call them in 7-10 days to reschedule.”
That voice message to patients begins: “Unfortunately, we have not received any new vaccine supply from the state of California. We are sorry to inform you that we must postpone your current vaccine 2nd dose appointment until we receive more vaccine supply.”
Sutter Health is also telling patients that, in accordance with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, second doses can be delayed by two or three weeks from their normal timelines, depending on the brand. The CDC and California Department of Public Health each say patients can take the second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine up to six weeks after the first shot.
The hospital system, which stretches across Northern California but is based in Sacramento, has received more than 369,000 total doses to date from the state plus counties that have reallocated some of their share, and it has injected about 347,000 as of Tuesday, Sutter Health spokeswoman Angie Sheets told The Bee.
Of the 347,000, about 214,000 were first doses, Sheets said.
Sutter Health in an email to patients last week said it has the capacity to inject 25,000 patients a day across its network with nine large-scale clinics including one in Sacramento and another in Roseville.
Everything is in place for mass vaccinations except the doses.
CDPH spokesman Darrel Ng said the vaccine appointment cancellations at Sutter Health are not related to Blue Shield taking over vaccine program management. Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped the health care giant as third-party administrator of the state’s vaccination campaign because he and his advisers determined the state needed a more centralized process.
Sutter Health is not the first provider in the state to face supply issues. Kaiser Permanente, until it recently got a large proportion of the state’s allocation, had limited supplies that made it the last provider in the Sacramento region to open expand appointment availability to patients ages 65 through 74.
The state has not publicly released data on its allocations to vaccine providers, which include hospital systems as well as counties’ local health offices.
The CDC each Tuesday announces states’ allocations of doses for the next week. Those hadn’t been released as of early Tuesday afternoon.
‘Relief in sight, and then they snatch it back’
In an emailed message sent to patients last Friday, Sutter Health said its supply coming from the state “is extremely limited and unpredictable” and cautioned that indefinite postponements could be imminent.
Not everyone received or saw that emailed message, so the cancellations came with little warning for some Sutter Health patients.
Sacramento resident Gayle Greene and her 91-year-old mother were scheduled to receive their second COVID-19 vaccine doses this week.
Greene, 75, has been looking forward to taking care of important errands after she gets her second vaccine dose, so she’s been checking Sutter’s online patient portal every day.
“We’ve been very good about socially isolating and not going anywhere. I haven’t been in a grocery store in a year,” she said.
With her second shot on the horizon, “You think, ‘oh finally, I’ll be reasonably well protected. I might be able to do a few things,’” she said. “Nothing crazy, not going to any bars.”
But when she checked on Sunday, Greene found her and her mother’s appointments were canceled.
She said she didn’t receive any notification from Sutter about the cancellation, and when she called was told that the health care company might have more information by March 9 and would contact her to reschedule.
Greene said she’s concerned that if she and her mom don’t get their second shots soon, that they won’t be as effective.
“When you think finally there’s a little relief in sight, and then they snatch it back… it just adds a degree of worry,” she said.
Given the CDC guidance that the booster shot come within six weeks of the first shot, that leaves two weeks of leeway for those who get a Moderna vaccine, and three weeks for those receiving Pfizer’s shot, to get fully vaccinated without having to start the regimen over.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 2:42 PM with the headline "‘Unpredictable’ supply may force Sutter Health to cancel 90,000 COVID vaccine appointments."
