COLOMBIA, SC (WIS) – Changes in the way vaccines are reaching hospitals and other suppliers across South Carolina are causing vaccine shortages at some vaccination sites this week.
Officials at Prisma Health and Medical University of South Carolina said they received only a small portion of their weekly vaccine quota on Monday, and the other portion will come on Wednesday and Thursday. Prisma Health officials said Monday’s shipment was a small share of first doses and a larger share of second doses will be in deliveries later this week.
“We saw late appointments because we didn’t receive our vaccine,” said Dr. Saria Saccocio, co-chair of the Vaccine Task Force at Prisma Health. “We had to cancel appointments because we did not receive our expected shipment.”
However, this created confusion and frustration for many Southern Carolinians, with thousands of appointments being rescheduled or canceled.
MUSC officials said they had to reschedule 8,000 appointments, postponing them until the end of this week. MUSC’s quality director said they received about 3,000 doses on Monday, which was just enough to cover Monday’s schedule.
“This break in this week’s shipping line twice a week was a change and caused significant disruptions in terms of rescheduling patients, which we are desperately trying to avoid,” said MUSC quality director, Dr. Danielle Scheurer.
Prisma Health officials said they will not have any walk-in vaccinations for the rest of the week for the first few doses, and will offer limited walk-ins to those who need a second dose based on the vaccine supply. They are encouraging everyone who is trying to get a vaccine to make an appointment.
Prisma officials said their hospital system suffered delays in obtaining its quota on Monday and were expecting an additional shipment on Tuesday morning. However, the shipment only arrived at 1 pm, which caused some of the vaccination sites to be closed in the morning and all appointments to be canceled.
Deirdre Robinson said his mother had an appointment to take her second dose at 9 am Tuesday morning at Prisma Health’s Gamecock Park vaccination site, but she received a call last night from Prisma Health stating that her appointment had been canceled.
“They said, ‘There is nothing we can do,'” said Robinson. “(They said) ‘We can reschedule it on February 22nd’, which is not acceptable. It’s ridiculous.”
She even showed up at Gamecock Park on Tuesday, since the venue opened at noon and after hours of waiting, her mother managed to take the photo. However, she said she is concerned about how Prisma handled the cancellation.
“I’m concerned that I’m not the only one,” said Robinson. “Based on what the call center lady told me, their calls went from 30 to over 200 calls in line. I was told it was a fluke, that I shouldn’t have deleted it, but nobody went back and told people who had an appointment that you can go to your appointment. It’s ridiculous.”
Prisma and MUSC officials said the second dose distribution should be sent on Wednesday, but they are not sure how many vaccines will be in the distribution.
For anyone who has had their appointment canceled or if their vaccination location was not open due to supplies, Prisma employees ask you to bring your appointment confirmation and they will do their best to honor it.
“Bring the validation of your consultation with you, be it a code on your phone or a printout,” said Saccocio. “If you had an appointment that was missed due to the delay in delivering the vaccine and we have the vaccine supply available, then we will do our best to vaccinate you.”
DHEC officials emphasized that they are asking providers to maintain mass vaccination clinics to prevent facilities from exceeding the number of doses available and having to refuse people.
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