Following the cancellation of approximately 21,400 meetings with the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, Ochsner Health will begin rescheduling vaccinations on a weekly basis as it receives information about state deliveries, hospital officials said Monday.
“This is an evolution,” said Warner Thomas, CEO of Ochsner. “I thought we had a certain amount of vaccine. I booked a certain amount of appointments. As it turns out, we don’t get it at that level. ”
Louisiana and other US states are in the midst of a major logistical challenge to vaccinate residents against coronavirus.
Going forward, Ochsner will begin rescheduling canceled appointments for the first dose between Friday and Tuesday, the time between being notified of the delivery he will receive from the state and the time the vaccines are delivered, Thomas said.
The 21,400 residents on Ochsner’s waiting list will be rescheduled in the order of the initial appointments. Any hospital worker who has not yet chosen to receive a vaccine will be added to the back of the line. Currently, 49.1% of hospital staff have been vaccinated.
As vaccines among hospital workers have shrunk and eligibility has expanded to over the age of 70, the state has enrolled nearly 1,800 smaller providers to ensure broad geographic coverage. But that means some hospitals, such as Ochsner’s Lafayette General, will receive zero doses this week after receiving a 975 shipment last week.
At Ochsner’s main campus, which distributes vaccines to several locations in southeast Louisiana, doses have dropped from 3,900 last week to 1,950 this week.
The state said the allocation choices are made on the basis of fairness and use, but there is not enough supply from the federal government to meet demand.
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“The team is doing its best to spread the vaccine fairly each week,” said Dr. Joe Kanter, interim deputy secretary of the Public Health Bureau. “This means that there are no ‘expected’ allowances on a weekly basis.”
The state’s supply should remain stable but steady over the next four weeks, Kanter said.
LCMC Health, which operates six hospitals in the New Orleans area, has also begun delaying appointments, citing a lack of federal supplies.
“Based on our anticipated vaccine allocations to be received in the coming weeks, we are adjusting our programs to meet our allocation offer,” said LCMC President Dr. John Heaton. The hospital system did not answer questions about how many appointments were adjusted.
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Ochsner and LCMC stressed that secondary doses will continue according to schedule.
Emily Woodruff covers public health for The Times-Picayune | New Orleans attorney as a member of the Report for America body.