As some COVID vaccine risks going to waste, these Charlotte area providers save doses

On a recent rainy afternoon at the Eastridge Mall in Gastonia, Brittain Kenney darted to the Red Lobster and excitedly lingered in the waiting area — feeling confident that someone’s life was about to dramatically change in mere moments.

She’d come to offer restaurant employees a few leftover COVID-19 vaccine doses, already defrosted at the Gaston County Department of Health & Human Services mass clinic in the mall parking lot.

The expiration clock was ticking.

But when the hostess told Kenney, a county spokeswoman-turned-vaccine-”saleswoman,” no chefs or waiters were interested, she pivoted to Los Arcos, a nearby Mexican restaurant.

With no luck, Kenney strode on foot through the drive-thru window at Lucky Samurai, almost as though she was placing an order and not offering a free return to a pre-pandemic world. It still seemed like inevitable defeat — until a couple arrived on a whim to get immunized.

“I guess I’d just call it a passion project,” Kenney said, chuckling at her impromptu responsibilities during biweekly vaccine clinics. “It can be awesome. The hard (days) are when you’ve run around to four or five different places and are experiencing people who don’t want a vaccine.”

She’s somewhat of a floater at clinics, which makes her an ideal county employee to stand in the pouring rain, flagging down cars as vials of Pfizer and Moderna sit open inside the health department tent.

“It never works out perfectly,” Kenney said. “We have all these appointments that are booked, but there are obviously people who don’t show. It’s always last-minute.”

‘No dose gets wasted’

For months across the Charlotte area, officials and volunteers have tirelessly and creatively ensured not a single shot is wasted, despite complex storage requirements that can put the vaccines in jeopardy. Stored at sub-freezing temperatures, the Pfizer vaccine can only stay at room temperature for about six hours, and punctured Moderna vials last up to 12 hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Meg Sullivan, Mecklenburg’s medical director, told reporters last week that Public Health has still used up every dose, even as walk-in options make it tricky to predict the exact number of vials needed at mass vaccine clinics and smaller pop-up events.

It was a much easier undertaking at the start of the vaccine rollout, officials say, when clinics could administer so-called waste doses to volunteers not yet eligible under the state’s prioritization framework. Now those individuals are fully inoculated — and vaccine demand appears to be cratering among the general public.

But persistence, at least, is not waning among providers handling the shots.

Quiet scenes of triumph have occurred right outside the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, where Mecklenburg County Public Health and StarMed Healthcare’s mass vaccine clinic is slated to wind down operations in May.

Dr. Arin Piramzadian, StarMed’s chief medical officer, said he’s gone so far as to jab people in the middle of the street, making the risk of standing in evening traffic worth it. At a Union County vaccine clinic, Piramzadian said, he once walked several blocks to a construction site, desperate to find four workers willing to get their shots.

“I have a very strict policy. It doesn’t matter how late we have to stay — we will get that dose to anybody,” Piramzadian told the Observer earlier this month. “No dose gets wasted.”

The philosophy explains an urgent Twitter message from StarMed on April 2.

“EMERGENCY: we have 7 extra Pfizer doses at Bojangles Coliseum. Anyone 16+ hurry!” StarMed had tweeted around 5:30 p.m. “We can’t refreeze them. Go now if you’re close!”

In a reply tweet, StarMed told one Twitter user it would reserve a dose for her, later sending red heart and star emojis to celebrate the rushed success.

Within two hours, the crisis was averted as StarMed “got them all in arms!”

Vaccine hesitancy

Kenney, of Gaston County, may hold onto her gig — which she describes as “really fun” yet also a “little embarrassing” — for a while, but possibly at smaller clinics beyond her familiar mall territory. (A newly ordered inflatable advertising balloon, though, could replace some of her quirky responsibilities.)

”When we have been looking hard for people to come through, everyone at the clinic cheers. There’s massive applause,” Kenney said, jokingly acknowledging the most seamless clinics, with zero leftover doses, happen when she’s not there.

Nearly 25% of Gaston County residents are fully vaccinated as of late Tuesday, according to the latest data from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. That compares with almost 28% of Mecklenburg residents and 30.8% of all adults statewide.

In recent weeks, the vaccine supply has substantially expanded throughout North Carolina and the country. Appointments, once snatched up in minutes, are widely available, prompting health-care providers to offer walk-in options and make the vaccination process as easy as possible.

Still, health experts say the Charlotte region is months away from gaining herd immunity, with the process slowed by vaccine hesitancy and a pause in administering the Johnson & Johnson shot.

Kenney is mindful of those barriers.

She’s memorized an elevator pitch as she gently asks strangers whether they’re interested in getting immunized on the spot. Wearing Gaston County gear and a face mask, she’ll point out the clinic tent — a monthslong fixture of the Eastridge Mall parking lot — and explain the leftover dose ordeal.

The strategy proved successful at Firestone Complete Auto Care, when the majority of staff took Kenney up on her offer. She even convinced a few customers, waiting for their cars to be serviced, to fill the time with a vaccine shot.

During unsuccessful interactions, Kenney said, she combats reluctance with information. She provides people with the health’s department web address and telephone number, urging them to return for a shot once their research is done.

“Some people are just not ready to get the vaccine,” she said. “The worst thing you can do is try to convince people that their very valid concerns are not legitimate. “

This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 8:55 AM.