Provo Hospital tries to administer 1,900 doses of COVID-19 vaccine by Friday

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Doses of the Pfizer vaccine will not be lost, said a spokeswoman for the Utah County Health Department.

(Kindness of the University of Utah Health) A bottle of the Pfizer / BioNTech version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

| February 11, 2021, 11:56 p.m.

| Updated: February 12, 2021, 1:11 am

A Provo hospital has about 1,900 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine it needs to get into people’s arms, the state said.

Officials at Provo Hospital in Utah Valley have spoken to neighboring counties that if there are people 70 years of age or older who can reach Provo by Friday afternoon, there is a photo of the Pfizer vaccine for them.
People can sign up for an appointment by accessing the Utah County Department of Health website: https://healthevents.utahcounty.gov/.
Lance Madigan, a spokeswoman for Intermountain Healthcare, said the hospital had scheduled meeting blocks for Utah County residents to get the shots, but many slots remained unfilled.

“We don’t know if everyone who wants it has already got it or if it’s a technological problem – because it’s [people] 70-plus and we ask people to register [online] before he comes, “Madigan said.

Aislynn Tolman-Hill, a spokeswoman for the Utah County Department of Health, said her agency has seen a decline in vaccine appointments over the past week. “We’re actually starting to see the end of the 70-year-old crowd we’ve been trying to vaccinate,” she said.

Utah County, Tolman-Hill said, also has its share of “hesitation in vaccination” – people who want to “see what’s going on, how it’s going for everyone” before getting the shot themselves.

Nicholas Rupp, a spokesman for the Salt Lake County Department of Health, said his office received information about available doses on Thursday. The Salt Lake County Agency has begun calling people on its vaccine waiting lists, wondering if any of them could go as far as Provo and get a shot.

Provo hospital staff, Madigan said, are working on “sufficient training to meet demand as it comes, so that we minimize waste as much as possible. We will come up with a lawsuit. They will not be abandoned. ”

“I don’t take doses out of the freezer unless I know they’ve already scheduled those meetings,” Tolman-Hill said.

The Pfizer vaccine should be stored at very cold temperatures, and pharmacists usually thaw vials only when they know the vaccine will be used.

Rupp said his agency officials discussed moving the Provo doses to a Salt Lake County vaccination site. They opted for this move, Rupp said, “because we are already at full capacity with those we have hired and with everything we have to work on. [Friday and Saturday] on our current sites. ”

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