Now 2 major NC hospital systems could be early distributors of COVID-19 vaccine
Soon after Pfizer and partner company BioNTech announced a vaccine candidate that was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in study participants, Charlotte’s major hospital systems said they would be prepared to distribute that vaccine when its available.
Atrium Health CEO Gene Woods said Tuesday the Charlotte hospital system, Charlotte’s largest, would be ready to be an “early site” chosen to help with distribution of that vaccine.
And Novant Health has purchased refrigeration units required to store the Pfizer vaccine, spokeswoman Megan Rivers said Wednesday.
The Pfizer vaccine needs to be kept at low temperatures — between minus 70 to minus 80 degrees Celsius. So Atrium has already purchased refrigeration units that could hold up to 300,000 doses of the vaccine, Woods said at a meeting of Atrium’s Board of Commissioners.
“We anticipate Atrium being one of the early sites chosen to work directly with the Department of Health and Human Services to help with the distribution,” Woods said. He did not disclose how much money Atrium spent on the refrigeration units.
Novant has been working with the North Carolina Vaccine Advisory Team as well as county officials in planning for distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine, Rivers said in a statement.
“While we await a safe and effective vaccine to be approved, we are working diligently to ensure we have the operations and tools in place to immediately begin vaccine procurement and distribution,” Rivers said in a statement.
Pfizer has planned to manufacture up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and more than 1 billion doses in 2021.
The Pfizer vaccine could be “authorized for certain high-risk populations” this year, but there still could be delays, The New York Times has reported. It’s unclear when the vaccine could be widely available in the Charlotte area.
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Rise in cases
Word of a vaccine breakthrough came as Charlotte and North Carolina reported a rise in coronavirus cases.
On Tuesday, for instance, Mecklenburg County reported a rise in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and testing positivity rates in the past week.
Mecklenburg saw 380 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday – the county’s highest jump in daily cases since mid-July, according to state data. And in recent weeks, North Carolina’s COVID-19 cases have surpassed the state’s earlier coronavirus peak in July.
Atrium took a financial hit this year as the hospital system responded to coronavirus outbreaks.
On Tuesday, Atrium reported an operating income of $22 million in the first nine months of 2020. That’s down from the budgeted operating income of $177 million for the same time period.
“This has been a year like no other,” Woods said Tuesday.
In March, Atrium and Novant began postponing many non-essential surgeries, as the coronavirus pandemic took a hold of North Carolina.
Atrium, Novant and Wake Forest Baptist Health began rescheduling those procedures in order to “conserve critical resources,” the three hospital systems said in a statement at the time.
The North Carolina hospital systems were preparing for a possible surge of COVID-19 cases over the summer that experts worried could overwhelm hospitals. Atrium and Novant began resuming those non-emergency surgeries and procedures in April.
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Now 2 major NC hospital systems could be early distributors of COVID-19 vaccine."
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