Sutter Gould patients can’t get appointments for COVID vaccine. Some need 2nd dose.
Patients of Sutter Health are still waiting to make appointments for first shots of coronavirus vaccine, while second doses are rescheduled for other patients.
The large nonprofit health system has struggled with the uneven rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations in California.
Sutter pressed the pause button on new vaccine appointments a month ago, citing a limited supply of coronavirus vaccine. Last week, more than 90,000 patients, who managed to get a first dose, were in danger of being canceled or rescheduled for the second dose due to unpredictable supply shortages.
A Sutter spokesperson said Friday the state has committed to providing 60,000 doses over the next two weeks. In addition, county health agencies and local partners came through with vaccine supplies.
It allowed Sutter to start rescheduling second-dose appointments for the affected patients, said Angie Sheets, media relations director for Sutter Health in Sacramento.
Sutter has operated a large-scale COVID vaccine hub by appointment for Sutter Gould Medical Foundation patients in Modesto, and also has administered the vaccine in Ceres and other locations in the Central Valley and Bay Area.
“As long as Sutter continues to receive sufficient supply, we anticipate being able to complete all second-dose vaccinations,” Sheets said in an email. “We may still need to reschedule some second-dose patients.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the two doses of Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccine are effective if they are administered up to six weeks apart. Typically, second doses of the vaccines are administered three to four weeks after the first.
Sutter said previously it could not administer the 90,000-plus second doses because the state failed to make good on a promise to allocate second doses of vaccine.
The California Department of Public Health issued a response: “Every provider, every county, and every state wishes they had more vaccines. We are constrained due to a lack of overall supply and manufacturing capacity. California continues to work closely with the federal government to increase the supply of vaccines for providers statewide.”
According to a Sutter website, the Sacramento-based health provider has administered 370,000 doses of COVID vaccine at clinics and special vaccination hubs. Those eligible for the shots from Sutter are people age 65 and older and community healthcare workers, but no first-dose appointments were being scheduled as of Monday.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 1:54 PM.
