Brian Myszkowski|Pocono Record
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Thousands of patients will have their second doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine rescheduled due to supply and delivery issues, two Pennsylvania hospital networks announced Friday.
More: NEPA health networks reschedule Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations due to shortages
Both Lehigh Valley Health Network and Geisinger announced Friday that due to the dosage debacle reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the wild winter weather across the nation throughout the week, supplies and deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine were heavily affected, leading to the necessity of further rescheduling of vaccinations.
According to a release from LVHN issued Friday, patients who have been scheduled for a second dose of the Moderna vaccine on Feb. 20, 21 and 22 – about 3,200 people in total – will have their appointments cancelled and rescheduled.
Appointments set for Saturday, Feb. 20 will be rescheduled to Saturday, Feb. 27, appointments set for Sunday, Feb. 21 will be rescheduled to Sunday, Feb. 28, and appointments set for Monday, Feb. 22 will be rescheduled to Monday, March 1. All appointment times and locations will remain the same.
Patients do not have to take any action if their new appointment date and time is acceptable. Those who are unable to attend their new appointment have been advised to contact LVHN’s COVID-19 Hotline at 833-584-6283 (833-LVHN-CVD) to reschedule for a later date.
LVHN officials noted that the rescheduling plan will keep patients within the acceptable timeframe for vaccine administration, spanning 28 to 42 days between doses.
All first dose vaccinations will be held as scheduled, with patients receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
The vaccination clinic set to be held at Dorney Park on Wednesday, Feb. 24, will be held as scheduled.
Related: Thousands of appointments to be rescheduled as Moderna demands exceed supplies
Geisinger also announced that the nationwide severe weather had caused shipment delays to their locations.
The health network has noted that they are reaching out directly to patients whose appointments will require rescheduling and providing them with new appointment times.
At the Geisinger Lewistown Hospital Vaccine Center, the Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital Vaccine Center and the Geisinger CenterPoint (Jenkins Township) Vaccine Center, all first and second dose appointments originally set for Saturday, Feb. 20, Monday, Feb. 22 and Tuesday, Feb. 23 are being rescheduled. First dose appointments originally set for Sunday, Feb. 21 will be rescheduled, while second dose appointments originally rescheduled from Friday, Feb. 19 will continue on the revised Sunday schedule.
At the Geisinger Health Plan Building (Danville) Vaccine Center, all first and second dose appointments originally set from Saturday, Feb. 20 through Tuesday, Feb. 23 will be rescheduled.
For patients receiving their second dose of the vaccine, Geisinger representatives have noted that their new appointments will fall within the acceptable timeframe as advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Geisinger officials have advised that is a patient’s appointment is not until next week, their myGeisinger account may not reflect a change right away, but that the account will be updated and they will be contacted over the next several days. Patients may notice an updated appointment date and time in their account prior to receiving a phone call, email or text message from Geisinger.
As additional adjustments to appointments may be necessary depending upon supplies and weather, those with appointments have been encouraged to check their myGeisinger accounts for updates on vaccine rescheduling, or to visit geisinger.org/COVIDvax.
More coverage: Winter weather causes further problems with COVID-19 vaccine shipments in PA
LVHN and Geisinger are just two of many COVID-19 vaccine providers that were adversely affected by an inadequate supply of the Moderna vaccine and difficulties with shipping due to the impact of recent winter weather.
On Wednesday, the DOH announced that requests for second doses of the Moderna vaccine exceeded available supplies in the commonwealth, due to several unnamed providers using second doses as first doses since January.
Department of Health Acting Secretary Alison Beam said that the compounded misuse of second doses as first doses will take at least two to three weeks to resolve, though “by increasing our provider communications, we will hopefully be able to be better aligned with our provider community, and allow this to be prevented from happening any further.”
Both LVHN and Geisinger have made a point that their providers never used second doses of the Moderna vaccine as first doses.
On Thursday, the DOH explained that inclement weather over the past week caused delays in shipping both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to providers in Pennsylvania.
DOH Senior Advisor for COVID-19 Response Lindsey Mauldin explained that the Moderna vaccine was not shipped from the distributor from Monday to Wednesday, while the Pfizer vaccine was not shipped on Monday, and only limited doses were shipped on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We do understand that these weather delays will impact the ability to vaccine into arms, and we want to remind everyone that has a vaccine appointment to contact your provider before traveling,” Mauldin said.
