Hospital waiting on supply to increase

Vaccine shortage leaves thousands in the lurch

Vallejo resident Michael Kosec thought he was doing the responsible thing for his health and the community’s safety by getting vaccinated as soon as he could. But earlier this week, Sutter Health announced plans to cancel up to 95,000 coronavirus vaccine appointments — including Kosec’s planned second dose.

“I just want to get the shot so we can get back to normal,” said the 70-year-old Kosec, who was due to get his second shot on Friday.

Sutter Health has announced plans to reschedule appointments, giving priority to second-dosers. But it hasn’t received enough supply and is waiting on the state and Blue Shield.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the supply chain was disrupted due to severe weather around the country, but also due to “miscommunication” between the state and Sutter Health about how many people had appointments for inoculation.

Part of the problem Kosec is facing is that he received the Moderna vaccine, not Pfizer. His wife received the latter and has already had her second shot at CVS, which does not offer Moderna.

As it turns out, if you have gotten your vaccine in one location but cannot get the second vaccine there, as long as you make sure you are getting it from the same company, like Moderna or Pfizer, you should be able to make appointments elsewhere. For Kosec, that means he will be going to the Fairgrounds in Vallejo

for his second shot.

But there is concern that many people have not been given clear direction on what to do if their supplier runs out.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, told the Mercury News that there will continue to be issues with vaccines, but there needs to be an easier way to get information to the public when hiccups occur.

“This is going to happen, but what we need to do is have clear communication with Californians so they know where they are and what their options are,” he said.

Ted Selby, emergency medical services administrator for Solano County, told the Times-Herald that a second dose can be administered up to 42 days, or six weeks, after the first dose. Health officials say not to panic if your second dose has to be rescheduled, as long as it’s in that range.

Kosec, like others, reached out to the county health department with no

luck. He even emailed Dr. Bela Matyas, deputy director of Solano Public Health, but got no response. Kosec wanted to know if there were places offering second shots to people who might have gotten them elsewhere. So far there is no coordinated, easy-to-locate response to this question for Californians.

Selby suggests going to the Solano County Public Health website and filling out a COVID-19 vaccine interest form, which will notify them that you need a second shot. The county should follow up with information on upcoming clinics, he said. There is also a “warm line” for COVID-19 information, (707) 7848988, but some report that it is hard to get through and a call from this paper revealed that the line mostly refers people to websites. Callers are then prompted to leave a message.