St. Clair Hospital cancels appointments after no covid vaccine shipment for 3 weeks

St. Clair Hospital officials say they haven’t received a shipment of first-dose covid-19 vaccines in three weeks, leading to hundreds of canceled appointments and clinics.

In addition to the individual appointments, the hospital has also canceled three clinics at senior-living centers: Twin Towers, Dormont Place and Carnegie Retirement Residence, hospital spokesman Robert Crytzer said.

More than 5,000 people — established patients at the Mt. Lebanon hospital — are on the vaccine waiting list, he said.

Crytzer said the hospital has raised its concerns with the state Department of Health, which is responsible for distributing the vaccines among providers in 66 counties. Philadelphia works directly with the federal government.

“Foremost among those concerns is that, without St. Clair’s participation in the distribution process, the most vulnerable populations in the South Hills will be disadvantaged in securing access to the vaccine,” hospital officials said in a statement.

Officials alerted patients earlier this week that appointments would be rescheduled after no first-shot doses of the Pfizer vaccine were delivered.

For the third week in a row, St. Clair was not allocated any supply of the Pfizer vaccine for first dose appointments. We regret the impact on thousands of South Hills residents who remain in our queue to be scheduled. (1)

— St. Clair Hospital (@StClairHospital) March 8, 2021

Department of Health records confirm the last shipment St. Clair received from the state was Feb. 22 and included 2,145 doses.

In the weeks prior, the hospital received 975 doses on Jan. 25, Jan. 28 and Feb. 1, and a shipment of 1,950 on Feb. 11.

The department on Wednesday provided a breakdown of how it determines the number of vaccines that will go to each provider.

That decision is based on two elements, the first being by county need. The need of a particular county is based on four separate weighted factors: the population over the age of 65 (weighted at 30%), the total population (weighted at 20%), the number of covid cases (weighted at 20%) and the number of covid deaths (weighted at 30%).

The second prong of the decision-making looks at provider capacity – the number of vaccines requested by a particular provider and their ability to administer and store the vaccine.

Barry Ciccocioppo, a spokesman for the Department of Health, said the first-dose supply was shut off for several weeks as the department worked to narrow the provider list to the most efficient and far-reaching providers.

Crytzer said the hospital is alerted each Monday about what the allocation will be for the week, and the hospital “was notified last three Mondays that no vaccine was being shipped, but the state did not tell us why none was being shipped.”

Ciccocioppo said the hospital has still gotten second-dose shots during that time, and he expects the supply of first-dose vaccine will pick back up next week.

“As the supply increases … more of those providers who were temporarily turned off from first doses will be turned back on,” he said, noting it is part of the state’s larger strategy to get the most vaccine out in the quickest fashion.

Providers who schedule appointments before allocations are confirmed run the risk of having to cancel those appointments.

“Until the vaccine allocation stabilizes, it’s better to wait until you get the notice from the Department of Health that you’re getting vaccine for that week and then make the appointments,” he said. “There will be no shortage of people who will want those appointments, and they will take them quickly.”