COMMUNITY — Beaumont recently learned of an expected and significant reduction in Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine allocation from the state of Michigan.

As a result of the reduction, Beaumont Health Systems had to cancel 1,884 second dose appointments scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 18.

Beaumont says it is working on automatically rescheduling all canceled appointments to one week later at the same time and on the same day of the week if the state supplies enough vaccines.

The Pfizer vaccine originally called for three weeks between two doses of the vaccine, however, the CDC says the vaccine remains effective when the patient receives the second dose up to six weeks after the first dose.

Beaumont is sending emails and attempting to contact patients with canceled appointments via phone.

While Beaumont was prepared to administer 50,000 doses per week, it will only be able to administer 2,200 this week due to the state’s allocation and it will not be able to open any more Pfizer first dose appointments until additional vaccines are provided.

With more than 100,000 doses provided since the vaccine became available, Beaumont is trying to vaccinate its more vulnerable patients, including approximately 450,000 Medicaid beneficiaries.

“We are so disappointed that we had to cancel these appointments,” Health Chief Operating Officer Carolyn Wilson said. “Our teams worked around the clock and throughout the weekend with the state to try and secure the second dose vaccine we requested. We remain committed to vaccinating patients as quickly as possible as soon as we receive our allocated doses of vaccine.”

Any patients scheduled to receive their first dose of the Moderna vaccine in Dearborn are not affected.