No dearth of demand
Hampton Roads health officials making every shot count amid vaccine distribution
Few calls would make a person jump out of the shower and answer the phone — especially for an unknown number.
But when it could be the golden ticket — a COVID-19 vaccine appointment — letting a call go to voicemail is a risk few are willing to take.
“We’ve had people just (be) willing to drop everything to come in and get theirs (as) quickly as they can,” said Matt Leicester, the emergency management coordinator for Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
No shot goes to waste, healthcare officials around the region have said, as the demand remains high. Virginia has 8.5 million residents and most have said they want the shot. It’s rare there’s an extra dose, but when it happens, vaccine clinic workers scramble to find someone for it. It usually doesn’t take long.
“We have not had a single dose at the end of the day that we’ve not had an arm to put it in,” Leicester said.
Once a vial of vaccine is opened, it can’t be saved more than six hours, so all the doses must be used quickly. Sentara has been working with community organizations, such as churches, and keep a list of eligible folks on hand if they end up with leftovers.
“The community partners keep an eye on it and call people if the clinic is going to have no-shows,” said Kelly Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Sentara.
They run the clinics in morning and afternoon shifts and, if they have an idea there will be leftover doses, call people to come in. It’s not a secret where the clinics are, she said, so there is no issue getting those doses used.
“The grassroots, all the different congregations have come together to help,” Kennedy said. “They always seem to have more interest than we have slots available.”
In Norfolk, clinics run by the health department rarely, if ever, have extra doses, said Delores Paulding, the senior public health nurse manager.
“We try to prevent that by only taking out the amount of vaccine for appointments,” she said.
No-shows are rare, but if clinics end up with extras, they will go to volunteers working that day, or names will be pulled from the wait list, Paulding said.
In Virginia Beach, the health department has set up a pharmacy at the convention center, where the shots are going into arms.
“A group of qualified professionals now reconstitute and draw up vaccine as needed and runners bring it out to the vaccination tables,” wrote Brittany Watson, the Family Resource Specialist outreach supervisor for the Virginia Beach Health District. “This method helps ensure that there is a constant flow of supply, but reduces any waste.”
The vaccines aren’t prepared until the numbers are confirmed for the daily clinics, Watson said. The vaccine workers know about no-shows before it’s time to administer the shots, so missed appointments can be managed, she said.
In Chesapeake, when they’ve called someone in, it’s always met with elation, Leicester said.
They work off a list of people eligible in Phase 1a and 1b and call people in, if necessary. Once they asked someone to come in the next day so they wouldn’t have to open a new vial.
People are OK with waiting another 12 hours, as long as they know they’ll still get their shot, Leicester said.
In the Peninsula and Hampton health districts, managers maintain a list of people who have missed their second dose, or have said they will be unable to go to the second dose clinic, so they are placed on a wait list, said Irene Ferrainolo, the spokeswoman for both districts. Those people are told they may get a call at the end of a clinic that will require a quick response and arrival at the site.
Retail pharmacies that administer vaccines, including Walmart, CVS and Walgreens, said they, too, don’t let shots go down the drain.
“In the event additional doses from an opened vial are available and there are no scheduled appointments, we turn to individuals, including our associates, who fall within that priority to administer the remaining doses. If no one is available in that priority, where states allow, we move to the next priority,” a Walmart spokeswoman wrote in an email.
Pharmacists will pull together lists of eligible patients who have expressed interest in the vaccine, and they will reach out to them if they end up with extra doses, spokespeople from CVS and Walgreens both said via email.
A service called Dr.B., profiled by The New York Times, helps match extra doses with willing patients. But it hasn’t been needed locally.
Generally, people are so happy to get their shot, they’ll do what it takes.
“We’ve heard some great stories of people, how happy they are, that they got the opportunity to come in and do something like this,” Leicester said.