Some vaccine appointments go unfilled at clinics, pharmacies

When St. James Parish Hospital in Louisiana began COVID-19 vaccinations this winter, it routinely would administer 500 daily shots and could not keep pace with the long lines of vaccine seekers.

But as Louisiana joined a cascading number of states to waive age restrictions and allow all adults to get vaccinated, hospital leaders are finding more appointments going unfilled. The hospital that serves a Mississippi River community of about 22,000 no longer holds the large vaccination events, instead directing about 200 doses each week through smaller clinics and targeting hard-to-reach populations.

It’s a fast-changing scenario hospital leaders did not imagine would happen so quickly.

“We always felt the vaccine was like gold and it was precious,” said MaryEllen Pratt, CEO, St. James Parish Hospital, Louisiana. Now, “we’re having more trouble filling our schedules ... more people can get it but we’re finding less people interested in getting it.”

St. James Parish is among a growing number of U.S. communities with more vaccine slots than people willing to take them. The number of counties with unfilled vaccine appointments at chain retailers Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid grew about 60% in a week — from 530 two weeks ago to 847 last week, according to an analysis by GoodRx.

The surplus appointments represent a new challenge as President Joe Biden pushes to make every American adult eligible for a vaccine shot by April 19. With more than 174 million shots administered nationwide and more than 25% of adults fully vaccinated as of Friday, public health experts warned of hard work ahead to immunize enough Americans to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The unused vaccine slots are especially evident across a wide swath of the South, a possible sign regional demand is slowing as clinics targeting health care workers and seniors now court younger adults and other harderto-reach populations.

In Louisiana, 48 out of 64 parishes — the equivalent of counties — had available vaccine appointments at the three chain retailers as of Monday, according to GoodRx. Even nonpharmacy clinics said with three Food and Drug Administration authorized vaccines flowing to communities, the public does not seem as desperate to get immunized.

At Baton Rouge Clinic, a large vaccine site in Louisiana’s capitol, “urgency seems to have subsided,” said CEO Edgar Silvey.

The primary-care practice has had more vaccine appointment no-shows in recent weeks, but Silvey said the clinic fills openings by offering doses to patients there for nonvaccine appointments.

Rural sites with fewer patients have fewer options. St. James Parish Hospital has started to call people in advance to remind them of vaccine appointments.