Tennessee's 95 counties to split 30,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses as supplies run low

Tennessee counties will split about 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine this week as the state funnels about 40% of its doses to nursing homes, leaving some areas already facing vaccine shortages with less supply this month, a state official said Wednesday.

The state also stopped disclosing which county health agencies currently have a vaccine supply and which have run out.

The Tennessee Department of Health initially reported Wednesday it received only 48,000 vaccine doses this week – about half of what was expected – but later confirmed it incorrectly excluded tens of thousands of doses slated for long-term care facilities from that weekly total. The agency later clarified that Tennessee actually got approximately 80,000 doses, only about 10,000 short of what was expected.

• About 30,200 doses were divided between county health agencies, which are currently vaccinating first responders, teachers and elderly residents if they still have supplies.
• Another 17,675 will be sent to hospitals to continue vaccinations of health care workers.
• And about 31,900 of doses will go to pharmacies for use in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

"For the rest of January, we are going to have to give around that same percentage to our long-term care partners," said Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey.  “… We have plus or minus 140,000 residents in staff in long-term care across the state.”

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Many counties out of COVID-19 vaccine, long lines in Chattanooga

Tennessee received 328,500 doses of vaccine so far, and about 47% of those doses have been given to priority populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tennessee is among the leading states for both the percentage of supply used and the percentage of population vaccinated so far, according to data maintained by Bloomberg news.

But the Tennessee rollout has not been immune from frustration, oddities or a lack of transparency.

Most county health agencies, which are currently responsible for vaccinating first responders, teachers and elderly residents, have exhausted their current supply of vaccine. In the minority of counties that still have a supply, it is nowhere near demand.

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For example, in Chattanooga, where elderly residents were encouraged to line up in vehicles for vaccinations on Wednesday morning, all vaccine supplies were spoken for before sunrise. The county government announced in a tweet that the vaccine supply was allotted to people in line as of 6:03 a.m., and the “vaccination line was closed for the day.”

It is not known how many county health agencies still have a vaccine supply because the Department of Health government stopped released this information on Wednesday. The agency did not immediately respond to questions about the change.

Previously, the state released a daily spreadsheet announcing who was eligible for a vaccine in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties and if those counties currently had any vaccine left. The spreadsheet showed 38 counties were out of vaccine on Monday and 50 were out as of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the column containing information about vaccine availability was gone. After a Tennessean reporter inquired about the change, a link to the spreadsheet vanished from the state's vaccine information website.

Extra vaccine doses go to politicians, random people

While most counties are waiting for vaccine, a few have reported rare instances of extra doses.

In Madison County, the county health department vaccinated local politicians and family members of hospital executives from a supply of 200 “unforeseen” doses that needed to be used before they expired. The vaccine must be used within hours of being thawed.

A similar, smaller and stranger event occurred in Nashville.

City officials confirmed Tuesday that two doses were recently given to Subway restaurant employees during a narrow window where a small amount of vaccine needed to be used. First responders were being vaccinated at a TriStar hospital, when nurses were finishing up for the evening with the remaining doses that would expire that night. 

The employees were grabbed from the Subway located inside the hospital and were vaccinated. The Metro Health Department mistakenly reported earlier that the restaurant was located outside the hospital. 

Dr. Gill Wright, the interim Metro Health director, said the Subway workers thought they had "hit lottery."

"They kind of did," he said. "If you have a vaccine that is about to go out of time frame where it is still good, we want to put it in arms. 

The health department on Wednesday said the city is working to create a "stand by" list designed to make decisions more strategic in case a scenario like this arises again.

Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.