UNC Health has administered more than 75,000 COVID-19 vaccinations across the state with more than 50,000 future appointments already scheduled amid an increasingly-limited number of available doses.
The healthcare system announced Monday that it will receive only 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the state for the week of January 25-29. For UNC Health entities across the state, this represents less than half of the allocation that was anticipated.
Despite new guidance from the state health department, and concerns over “wasted” doses, UNC Health is not offering a waitlist for vaccines at this time.
As the state moves into week three of COVID-19 vaccinations for North Carolina’s elderly populations, UNC Health is operating by appointment-only scheduling “to be as equitable as possible without creating too many lines,” said a UNC Health spokesperson.
The state health department is encouraging vaccination clinics, like those held through UNC Health, to go one step beyond scheduling appointments and to additionally adopt a waitlist.
At a COVID-19 press conference last week, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen, said the state’s guidance to vaccine providers is “don’t waste any doses.”
“If you are at the end of the day and you have two or three doses left over but you’re out of folks who fit that priority category, our recommendation is keep a waitlist,” Cohen said. “Keep a waitlist where you can call someone last minute to come in that does fit those priority categories. You don’t ever have to waste it.”
Waste is common in global inoculation campaigns, with millions of doses of flu shots trashed each year. By one World Health Organization estimate, more than half of all vaccines are thrown away because they were mishandled, unclaimed or expired. The coronavirus rollout appears to have bucked that trend, with providers going out of there way to pull in eligible recipients.
“If you even can’t find someone on that priority list, find the closest arm of who wants to get vaccinated and get that in because we as a state don’t want to waste any vaccine,” Cohen said.
Despite efforts to limit waste, the state has still had to discard some vaccine. Of the 60,000 doses administered through UNC Health as of Friday, January 22, around 100 doses, less than 0.2 percent, have been disposed of.
Alan Wolf, a spokesperson for UNC Health, said these discarded doses are due to a bent needle, a dropped dose or accidental spillage of medication. If anything happens that is unexpected during dose preparation, UNC Health’s practice is to reject that dose rather than administer it to a patient.
“We are monitoring the discarded doses very closely and are making corrections if needed,” Wolf said. “None of our events have required major changes and we have been pleased with such a low rejection rate.”
The healthcare system said, as with all medications, there is a potential for missteps that require disposal. Cohen confirmed that these particular vaccines require extremely careful handling.
“We are seeing very small numbers of vaccine waste recorded in our CVMS [COVID Vaccine Management System], but it’s very few – in the tens of doses,” Cohen said. “But even that for me is too much. As you know these vaccines are challenging, they need to be diluted and then put into syringes. So none of this is perfect, but we are really encouraging folks on best practices related to getting as many doses as they can out of each and every vial.”
If someone doesn’t show up for an appointment at any of UNC Health’s vaccination clinics, another appointment is pulled forward so as to not waste a dose. Amid a reduced supply of vaccine for the week, the healthcare system will schedule fewer appendments.
“We understand the frustration and disappointment of not being able to get an appointment for a vaccination more quickly,” said Dr. Ian Buchanan, UNC Health President of Ambulatory and Post-Acute Care. “This is truly an issue of supply and demand. We are very aware of the angst this is causing everyone who is eligible now to receive a vaccine and cannot get an appointment or who spends hours online trying to get one.”
Alongside UNC Health’s vaccinations, as of January 22, the Orange County Health Department has administered 3,024 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and 537 of the second dose.
The county health department reports that nearly 17,000 additional residents have registered for the vaccine via the COVID Vaccine Management System.
At this time, health officials are urging residents to have patience throughout this vaccination rollout and continue checking back to YourShot.org. As more vaccine supply is received, more appointments will be made available.
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