About 400 to 600 people may have lost their shot at a vaccine this week after a winter storm dumped six to 10 inches of snow on Johnson County.
The winter storm made travel treacherous, and caused delays for COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
Johnson Memorial Hospital on Monday closed the vaccine clinic at 2 p.m. in the interest of public safety, said Dr. David Dunkle, hospital president and CEO.
The Johnson County Emergency Management Agency had issued an orange travel watch, and road conditions had started to deteriorate quickly.
The Johnson County Health Department, knowing the vaccine clinic would also close, decided to keep the testing site closed Monday, said Betsy Swearingen, director. Because the state-mandated holiday hours were noon to 4 p.m., Swearingen chose to not open the clinic rather than send staff home after two hours, she said.
Both the testing site and vaccine clinic remained closed Tuesday. The county was under a red travel warning Tuesday morning, meaning only emergency vehicles were permitted on the road. Both are set to reopen today.
Fortunately, no vaccines were wasted due to the closures, Swearingen said. Officials made the decision to close the clinic about three hours before it closed, so staff members adjusted the number of vaccines they prepared knowing the clinic would close early, she said.
Johnson County was one of more than 70 COVID-19 vaccine clinics that closed due to the weather, which is about two-thirds of the clinics in the state, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Once the closures were announced, the health department got word to Zotec, which provides the scheduling software for both the testing site and vaccine clinic, to cancel appointments via the preferred contact method, Swearingen said. Everyone who had an appointment Monday or Tuesday was given instructions to schedule a new appointment online or over the phone, she said.
The state health department asked Individuals to reschedule their appointments by clicking the link in their last confirmation text message or email, or by calling 211.
State officials said rescheduled second doses should be given within 42 days of the first shot, based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance which says individuals should receive their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines no later than that for full effectiveness.
Rescheduled vaccine appointments will be worked into the existing schedule as much as possible, when slots are open, Swearingen said. Working the appointments in as soon as possible will be critical as many of those canceled were second-dose appointments, she said.
It is unclear how many tests may have been given had the site been open as holidays — Monday was President’s Day — are typically light, Swearingen said. It is possible about 150 tests were delayed, based on the county’s daily average of about 100.
The Johnson County Highway Department has cleared the streets at the fairgrounds, and the fairgrounds caretaker has salted and shoveled the area where tests are administered, she said.
It was a tough call to delay testing and vaccines, but the decision was necessary, officials said.
“This week COVID and the weather were battling it out to see who is more important,” Swearingen said. “This week, it looks like the weather won.”
