State stops reporting overdue second shots
Lack of and canceled appointments mean seniors overdue for shot
Many people who persisted through long lines and jammed phone systems to get the first dose of the COVID vaccine in Florida say it’s turned out to be just as difficult to get the second dose.
About two dozen seniors expressed concerns about the second-dose procedures to the Sun-Sentinel. Some said the instructions were unclear. Others said appointments for second shots were canceled with the explanation that no doses were available. Others said no one picked up the phone.
“We called and called and no one answered the phone at Lake County Health, the number we were given,” said John Ronald, who got the first dose with his wife and was told to call for a booster appointment for the date on a card.
“Finally, we got a recording saying to press 0 for COVID vaccine information. The person answering the phone said she did not know anything about second doses. This was 11 days before we needed the dose. No one knew anything about it.”
The number of people overdue for second doses reached 44,470 Monday, according to the daily vaccine reports issued by the Florida Department of Health. But after that day, and after news media reports publicized the high number of people overdue for second shots, the health department started omitting that statistic from its daily reports.
Jason Mahon, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, said the “overdue” category was removed to bring the state’s report in line with the daily reports by
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And he said the word “overdue” conflicts with CDC guidance, which sets minimum time periods for receiving the second dose but not maximum ones.
“Based on this guidance, no one is overdue for their second dose, but rather, will be eligible for their second dose,” he said. “The Department of Health continues to recommend that individuals receive their second dose at 28 days for the Moderna vaccine, or 21 days for the Pfizer vaccine.”
As for the reports of problems with second doses, he said, “We are also working directly with counties and local providers to make sure individuals are being proactively scheduled to receive their second dose.”
Both doses have been completed for 139,345 people, according to the Florida Department of Health’s daily vaccination report.
Beth Connolly, of Sarasota, received a Moderna shot and an appointment for a booster. Then the state health department canceled her appointment, along with others she knows of, she said.
“Then they stopped giving second appointments and said they would contact to schedule,” she said. “They have not.”
A common experience was to receive a card at their first appointment with a date for their second shot but no specified time. A spokesman for the state health department has previously said people should show up at the same time as their earlier appointment, but some people who received the cards said they were told to show up any time that day.
Some were told to come back any time during that
day for their second shot and shuddered at the thought of another excruciating wait, at the end of which there may or may not be doses left.
“So after 4½ hours of suffering in our car, we came away with the first shot: and there is absolutely no indication that getting the second shot will be any less agonizing or time-consuming at this or other FLHealth-Broward sites,” said one man who got the first dose with his wife at Central Broward Park.
“We’re healthy enough and have enough reason to get it, that we’re likely to try. But numbers of our elderly friends and colleagues are either not healthy enough or are otherwise having second thoughts about repeating similar bad experiences in order to get a second dose.”
More than 1.2 million people have been vaccinated in Florida, with most likely not due yet for their boosters.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday there have been no issues so far with supplies for second doses. He said the federal government has held back enough for second doses and then supplied them as needed.
Despite talk that it may be more effective to give everyone one dose before going to second doses, he said his state wouldn’t consider such an approach.
“Florida is committed to the two-dose regimen for Pfizer and Moderna,” he said at a news conference in Key Largo. “That is what the clinical trial said was 95%. I do believe one dose does help. There’s places like Britain that have talked about — let’s just give everyone one dose. I think that would be helpful, but I think the two doses is better for seniors.”