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Beaumont Health says it is canceling 1,884 appointments this week for patients who were scheduled to receive the second booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
The reason: “an unexpected and significant reduction in the allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from the state of Michigan,” the health care system said in a press release.
Beaumont said he is sending an email to patients to notify them that their appointments have been canceled, but he will also try to contact patients without an email address by phone.
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The health system said it would reschedule the second dose’s appointments – pushing them to the same time and day of the week, but with a week-delay. Therefore, the commitments initially scheduled for February 18 would be carried over to February 25.
That depends, however, on whether the state health department sends enough vaccines to Beaumont to honor those appointments.
“We are very disappointed to have canceled these commitments. Our teams worked 24 hours a day and throughout the weekend with the state to try to secure the second dose of the vaccine we ordered, ”said Carolyn Wilson, Beaumont Health’s chief of operations, in a statement. “We remain committed to vaccinating patients as soon as possible as soon as we receive our allocated vaccine doses.”
Beaumont also announced on Monday that it will not be able to open new Pfizer first dose vaccine appointments at the Beaumont Service Center in Southfield until it can obtain more vaccine supplies.
The health system has the capacity to vaccinate 50,000 people a week, but this week it is receiving only 2,200 doses from the state.
Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said that the distribution of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in Michigan should be divided between state and local health departments, tribes, hospitals, pharmacies and health centers qualified by the federal government.
The Michigan National Guard and state health officials worked together to ask local health departments and hospitals how many second doses of vaccines would be needed, Sutfin said.
“The second dose is necessary for Pfizer and Moderna to be fully vaccinated against this virus and it is essential that everyone with the first dose be able to get a second dose,” she said.
“We are dealing with any shortage of second doses in the orders we will be making for shipping this week. About 37,300 doses of the ‘first dose’ allocation will need to be used to ensure complete vaccination for individuals who must receive a second dose ”.
Michigan is expected to receive 278,000 total doses from the federal government this week, Sutfin said. Of these, 157,475 are foreseen as first doses and 120,525 are planned to be used in second doses.
The recommended spacing for a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine is three weeks, however, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it is still effective if the second dose is administered within six weeks after the first dose.
Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.