‘Overwhelming’ demand for COVID vaccine outpaces supply across Columbus and Muscogee

Piedmont Healthcare was one of the first facilities in Columbus to provide the ultracold storage needed to house the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Two months into 2021, there’s more empty space in the freezers than they’d like.

Since mid-December, medical facilities have been enrolling as vaccine providers with the state of Georgia. The state government and local healthcare facilities are two months into a collaboration on the most effective way to distribute the vaccine. But there is friction between the state government’s plan to roll out the vaccine and the reality healthcare workers are facing.

After being accepted as vaccine providers, medical facilities request the amount of doses they need based on the community they’re serving. As the state is designated more vaccines by the federal government, Georgia then allocates them down to the provider level.

In Muscogee County, 41 providers have requested 104,900 doses, according to vaccine order data released weekly by the state health department. 30,825 doses have been allocated to the county so far, and 17,180 doses have been put into the arms of Muscogee residents, as of Monday.

“It’s really frustrating... we have a lot of older people calling us every day,” said Dr. Jacqueline Owusu of Renew Health Clinic in Columbus, a vaccine provider currently without any vaccines. “I’m taking their name and number and telling them, ‘as soon as we get it, I’ll call you back.’”

Per Phase 1A+ of the state vaccine rollout, only adults 65 and older, their caregivers, healthcare workers, employees at long-term care facilities, and police officers, firefighters and paramedics are being vaccinated.

Over six million vaccine doses have been requested for Georgians. Just over 2,100,000 have been designated for Georgia from the federal government and 1,945,425 vaccine doses have been shipped to medical facilities, as of Monday.

“It really starts at the top with the federal government and the production of the vaccine. From there, what we need as a state is more doses allocated to us,” said Piedmont Healthcare’s Chief Consumer Officer Katie Logan.

Rolling out the vaccine across the county

Demand for the coronavirus vaccine is “overwhelming,” according to Pam Kirkland, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health’s West Central Health District based in Columbus.

Over 21,000 Columbus residents have registered with the district to receive the vaccine. In the first week of February, they pushed out 524 doses across Columbus.

“We’re going as fast as we can,” Kirkland said. As a vaccine provider, the Columbus Health Department has been allocated 4,800 doses out of the 17,400 it requested.

They’re organizing drive-thru vaccine administration events using an appointment-only system and popping up at different locations to prevent crowding.

Georgians can register for the vaccine through their local health district to schedule an appointment. The Columbus Health Department can be reached at 706-321-6300.

“If we could do a thousand (vaccinations) a week, it would still take us 20 weeks to get everybody done,” said Kirkland, referencing those eligible in Phase 1A+. “But we can’t do a thousand a week. We don’t have that many at our disposal.”

Piedmont Healthcare has the largest share of Columbus’ vaccine doses with 14,475 allocated.

On Dec. 18, 2020, the hospital received its first shipment of 975 Pfizer doses packed tightly in a flat box the size of a small pizza and submerged in dry ice, Logan said.

After vaccinating their staff, Piedmont moved onto other Columbus residents in Phase 1A+, distributing 4,000 doses as of Feb. 12.

St. Francis-Emory Healthcare also has started community vaccinations through its Columbus Clinic, according to a statement from Keona Swindler, marketing & communications coordinator. They have received 6,400 doses from the state out of 10,825 requested.

Local pharmacies at Publix, Walmart, and Walgreens have requested a few thousand Moderna vaccines to distribute by appointment-only in Columbus.

Walgreens and CVS are partnering with local long-term care facilities to vaccinate staff and senior residents, like Orchard View Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Columbus.

Orchard View vaccinated 77% of their 240 residents and over half of their 500 full and part-time employees. The nursing home, a Hospital Authority of Columbus healthcare facility, spent time educating its staff and residents about the vaccine before distribution days.

Chief Operating Officer of the Hospital Authority of Columbus Britt Hayes helped coordinate the 12 days of marathon vaccinations that occurred in January and February.

He acknowledges hesitancy by some to take the vaccine, but urges eligible residents to consider signing up.

“The demand for the vaccine, in the world, is staggering and if you are fortunate enough to be one of the first people to receive it… boy you should really seriously consider taking it,” Hayes said.

Waiting ‘anxiously’ for vaccine shipments

Owusu and her clinic have requested 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine and they’re “waiting anxiously” to organize a vaccine clinic when a shipment finally arrives.

“Of course the demand outweighs the supply right now,” she said. Renew Health Clinic will continue to provide COVID-19 PCR and rapid testing daily until they can add vaccine services.

By phone or email, locals have been trying to get a hold of the Columbus Health Department for an update — when can they get a shot?

Now, they’re providing weekly updates to everyone on the registered list. The messaging is consistent, Kirkland said: “We’re still working on this and please be patient. We’re going as fast as we can.”

DPH launched a new COVID-19 vaccine dashboard Monday to provide a “transparent picture of vaccination administration in Georgia,” according to a press release. The breakdown tracks distribution by county, race and ethnicity, and vaccine manufacturer.

Out of the 104,900 doses requested from medical facilities in Muscogee County, 29% have been shipped and 52% of that (around 15,800 doses) has been administered. Comparatively, the entire state has received 1,945,425 vaccines and 79% of doses have been put into the arms of Georgians.

The rest are pending, and vaccine providers remain hopeful progress will continue.

“It does sound like we’ll get some more proactive communications coming and some ability to plan for a little bit further out, as now the Biden administration is rolling out some of their changes around the vaccination strategy and distribution,” Logan from Piedmont said.

“We’re optimistic to see how that plays out and hopefully our ability to plan a little more than a week at a time.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 6:00 AM.