LITTLETON, NH – On Thursday, January 28, Littleton Regional Healthcare was notified of 355 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines from the State stockpiles that were set to expire on Sunday, January 31 at 2pm. Without hesitation, LRH accepted the doses and quickly began assembling vaccination clinics for both Saturday, January 30 and Sunday, January 31. Administering over 350 doses of the vaccine in two days is an impressive feat of its own, let alone doing it with only 48 hours’ notice, but LRH accepted the challenge with one goal in mind – vaccinating as many people as possible.
LRH secured the additional doses just days after statewide scheduling confusion. After obtaining the list from the State of New Hampshire of the 1,100 individuals affected by the cancellations, LRH team members began working through the list, making call after call well into the evening on Friday. The calls continued on Saturday and Sunday until every dose was accounted for and every slot was booked.
Koren Superchi, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at LRH, said, “We were thrilled to be able to provide these doses to North Country residents and that no doses were wasted unnecessarily at other sites.”
LRH and healthcare settings across the country have been pleasantly surprised that vials of the COVID-19 vaccine often contain an extra dose or even two, resulting in even more vaccines available for administration. “We vaccinated 323 individuals on Saturday and an additional 102 on Sunday”, added Superchi.
The weekend clinics were the result of careful planning behind the scenes and dozens of LRH team members putting in the extra work to operationalize those plans. To add to the excitement, weekend temperatures lingered in single digits with wind-chill making it that much colder. The weather didn’t deter LRH personnel or vaccine recipients, however, all of whom were overcome with pride and gratitude.
One of the on-site volunteers of the weekend was LRH’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Nutter, who described what being part of the weekend’s event felt like. “It was an incredible feeling. We are all overwhelmingly proud to have had the opportunity to provide this service to our community and the appreciation from the vaccine recipients just fueled that even more. It reminded us all why we work in healthcare.”
Overall, the vaccination clinics were a huge success and proof that LRH is well-situated to handle an even larger volume of vaccine administration. “This weekend showed we are capable of administering in excess of 1,000 vaccines a day. The only constraint is vaccine supply. If we get the opportunity to do this again, we undoubtedly will,” noted Superchi.
LRH resumes their scheduled vaccination clinics this week, which are by appointment only. They have said they will continue to work through the list of those affected by the system scheduling error and add additional vaccination clinics whenever possible. All of which ultimately depends on vaccine supply, but Littleton Regional Healthcare remains hopeful.
If you were one of the individuals affected by the cancellations, LRH encourages you to rebook an appointment through the Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS) as soon as possible. LRH has your contact information and will contact you should an opening become available sooner. More appointments are expected to appear in VAMS soon.