Health Officials are asking you to cancel any extra Covid-19 Vaccine Appointments

North Central, W.Va (WDTV) - In an effort to get vaccinated, some people put their name on the list for an appointment at multiple places.

Health officials are now asking those who have received their Covid-19 vaccines to cancel any extra appointments.

“What happens is that if they get scheduled at three or four different places, and they’ll obviously take the one that’s most convenient for them or probably the soonest one,” said Dr. Todd Karpinski, the Chief Pharmacy Officer of WVU Medicine.

This then leads to missed opportunities for others who could have made that appointment and health officials may have to restore extra doses if no one is available to receive the vaccine, which can be critical.

It also creates a high no-show rate. Karpinski said they saw their no-show rates between seven and eight percent this week.

“For 3,000 patients, if you don’t have eight percent of them show up, it creates some operational inefficiencies,” he said.

Which is why health officials are asking anyone with extra appointments to take the extra step and cancel any unnecessary appointments.

“It’s just an extra step and people are probably so excited they got their vaccine they may not even remember they two others scheduled,” Karpinski said. “I suggest as people are signing up and getting on lists, just make a note of where you’re signed up so that if you do happen to get the vaccine at CVS you can go back and cancel you’re appointment at Walgreens or with us here in Mon County,” he said.

As of Friday, it’s been reported that over 430,000 people have been fully vaccinated in West Virginia.

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