race for a vaccine

Thousands of South Bay Kaiser Patients See COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments Canceled

Kaiser Permanente said they will reach out to those who had appointments cancelled to help them reschedule

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It's becoming a familiar pattern. Overwhelming demand for a vaccine and not enough supply.

That was the case in Santa Clara County Friday as residents, who were waiting to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots were left disappointed.

San Jose resident Olivia Lindor thought she had her vaccine appointment from health insurance company Kaiser Permanente lined up after she saw it work for her co-worker.

"She went onto Kaiser Permanente online and was able to get a vaccine appointment, and I tried the same thing, but I wasn't able to,” Lindor said.

Lindor wasn’t the only one. Thousands of other Kaiser Permanente members had their appointments cancelled for the next week because of a lack of vaccine.

"Santa Clara County canceled the vaccinations that it was going to give to Kaiser Permanente members. Kaiser Permanente did not cancel the vaccinations. They are working to get shots for those cancelled by the county," Kaiser said in a statement.

Santa Clara County executive doctor Jeff Smith said that he is also upset as the county waits for more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

"It's going to be frustrating for the next month to month and a half until the actual supplies get to us,” Smith added.

"Despite unpredictable and often limited vaccine supplies, Kaiser Permanente has and will continue to provide vaccinations to its members and the public using vaccine that is allocated to us,” a Kaiser spokesperson said.

The question now is there enough vaccine being allocated? Santa Clara County says no. But California Governor Gavin Newsom said yes and in fact, so much more, it will trigger other changes.

“We're anticipating within five and a half weeks, where we can eliminate all of the tiering so to speak Because supply will exponentially increase,” he said.

Kaiser officials told NBC Bay Area Saturday that they are now filing a complaint with the U.S Department of Health and Human Services for how and why the appointments were cancelled.

A Kaiser spokesperson released a statement that read in part: "The (Santa Clara) County’s assertion that Kaiser Permanente approved cancelling these appointments is false. In fact, the county initially failed to send us the names of the patients whose appointments they had cancelled, which risked leaving these thousands of people in confused limbo."

Santa Clara County officials told NBC Bay Area that it had been distributing the vaccine according to the guidelines.

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