DENVER — More and more vaccine appointments are being rescheduled as the winter storm inches closer to Colorado. As of Thursday afternoon, many mass vaccination and individual appointments have been postponed. However, pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are still continuing on with their scheduled vaccines for the moment.
Denver Health hospitals are keeping their appointments as schedule for Friday and Saturday. However, Sunday vaccination appointments have been canceled and can be rescheduled for some time next week. Denver Health plans to expand clinic hours this week to accommodate patients.
UCHealth had to cancel about 2,500 appointments for Saturday and Sunday because of the storm.
In a statement, UCHealth said, "We are contacting everyone who has an appointment this weekend to reschedule their vaccinations to clinics next week. ... Patients with appointments this weekend do not need to change their appointments themselves – we will call or send messages to everyone to help them reschedule."
Centura Health is rescheduled vaccine appointments from Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14 to "Thursday and Friday of this week."
"The appointment-only mass vaccination event originally scheduled for Saturday, March 13 at Broadmoor World Arena has been rescheduled to Tuesday, March 16. Affected patients are being contacted with these updates," Centura said.
Elbert Country announced the postponement of the Kiowa vaccine clinic. It was originally scheduled for Monday, March 15, and has been moved to March 29. The clinic is rescheduled for Monday March 29 (first dose) and Monday April 26 (second dose) in the Exhibit Building at the Elbert County Fairgrounds. All appointment times will remain the same.
Tri-County Health Department says it did not have a clinic scheduled this weekend.
The City and County of Denver's only weekend vaccination site under its guidance is Bear Valley Library which typically holds vaccinations on Sunday.
"However, because of the snowstorm, that clinic will be cancelled," a city spokesperson said. "People who had appointments on the 14th will be shifted to next Sunday, the 21st. People will not lose their vaccine dose."
Pharmacies open
As mentioned, all major pharmacies plan to remain open this weekend. But if that changes, CVS tells Denver7, "Patients with a scheduled COVID-19 vaccination appointment in a store that was closed due to a weather emergency will be contacted with a new appointment time or instructions to reschedule when appointments are available."
In the case of a the pharmacy remaining open but the patient is unable to get there because of poor road conditions, CVS writes, "If a patient notifies a pharmacy that they cannot make their scheduled vaccination appointment, on a case-by-case basis our team will work with them directly to try to reschedule them."
Walmart tells Denver7, "In the event of inclement weather, Walmart pharmacies will work with patients to reschedule vaccine appointments. The pharmacies will call patients to reschedule vaccine appointments if the store or club is closed."
A Walgreens spokesperson writes:
"We are actively monitoring the weather. In the event that a patient is unable to safely get to their scheduled appointment due to inclement weather, patients may contact the pharmacy location to cancel or re-schedule the appointment. We are committed to taking necessary measures to ensure every dose of a limited vaccine supply is used to protect patients and communities.
We are very committed to honoring vaccination appointments that have been scheduled in our system and actively work to ensure eligible individuals are able to schedule their vaccinations. We would contact patients to reschedule appointments, including second doses, accordingly."
