After canceling approximately 21,400 appointments with the coronavirus for the first dose of vaccine, Ochsner Health will begin weekly rescheduling of vaccinations as soon as it receives notification of the state’s shipments, hospital officials said Monday.
“This is an evolution,” said Warner Thomas, CEO of Ochsner. ‘We thought we had a certain amount of vaccine. We have booked a number of appointments. It turns out we don’t get it to that level. “
Louisiana and other US states are in the midst of the great logistical challenge of getting residents vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In the future, Ochsner will begin rescheduling canceled appointments with the first dose between Friday and Tuesday, the time between when it is notified of the shipment it will receive from the state and when the vaccines are delivered Thomas said.
The 21,400 residents on Ochsner’s waiting list will be moved in the order of the original arrangements. All hospital employees who have not yet chosen to receive a vaccine are added to the back of the queue. Currently, 49.1% of hospital staff are vaccinated.
As vaccines have leveled off among hospital workers and eligibility extended to those aged 70 and over, the state has enrolled nearly 1,800 smaller providers to ensure wide geographic reach. But that means some hospitals, like Ochsner’s Lafayette General, will be receiving zero doses this week after receiving a load of 975 last week.
At Ochsner’s main campus, which distributes vaccines to various locations in southeastern Louisiana, doses have dropped from 3,900 last week to 1,950 this week.
The state said allocation choices are made based on equity and use, but there is not enough supply from the federal government to meet demand.
The Louisiana Department of Health is redoubling efforts to improve surveillance of new and more contagious variants of the coronaviru …
“The team is working hard to distribute the vaccine fairly every week,” said Dr. Joe Kanter, deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Public Health.
The state’s supply should remain flat but stable for 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 supply at the federal level.
“Based on our anticipated vaccine allocations that we will receive in the coming weeks, we are adjusting our schedules to meet our allocation offer,” said LCMC President Dr. John Heaton. The hospital system did not answer questions about how many appointments have been adjusted.
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Ochsner and LCMC stressed that the second doses would go ahead as planned.
Emily Woodruff covers public health for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate as a member of the Report For America Corps.