Two UNC basketball coaches got COVID vaccine ahead of schedule. Here’s how.
UNC men’s basketball coach Roy Williams got an urgent request from assistant coach Hubert Davis and director of basketball operations Sean May during the middle of Thursday’s practice.
The Friday Center, one of three locations in Orange County where COVID-19 vaccines are being administered, had extra doses remaining from an opened batch. To get the vaccine, Davis, 50, and May, 36, had to get from the Dean E. Smith Center in 15 minutes before the center closed.
Davis and May are not in either group that is typically eligible to receive the vaccine under the guidelines from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services: health care workers, long term care staff and residents, and people who are 65 years or older.
But it wasn’t a case of preferential treatment for the coaches, said Dr. Matt Ewend, the Chief Clinical Officer for UNC Health Care. The clinic was following state guidelines to ensure the limited supply of vaccine didn’t go to waste.
“They lucked into it, and most of my guys, most of my staff members, do want to take it,” Williams said during a video conference on Friday. “And I think that everyone that has an opportunity to take the vaccination, I think they should.”
Williams, who is 70, and his wife, Wanda, both received their scheduled COVID-19 vaccinations on Thursday, falling into the most recent group of older adults.
Then there are those who are on standby to receive the extra doses so the limited supply of vaccine doesn’t go to waste.
“We’re saying that if you are at the end of the day and you have two to three doses left over, but you’re out of folks who fit that priority category, our recommendation is keep a wait list,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday at a news conference. “Keep a wait list where you can call someone last minute to come in that does fit those priority categories. You don’t ever have to waste it.
“But our guidance is also, if you even can’t find someone on that priority list, find the closest arm of who wants to get vaccinated and get that in. Because we, as a state, don’t want to waste any vaccine.”
How the leftover coronavirus vaccines are used
Once a batch of the COVID-19 vaccine is unfrozen, it must be completely used. Leftover doses sometimes remain when people don’t show up for appointments as scheduled, although UNC School of Medicine chief communications officer Lisa Schiller said that percentage is very low.
Ewend told The News & Observer by phone Friday that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines vials come in different amounts, so each vial can yield a leftover amount. He said Pfizer vials hold five doses, but often yield six. And though it is less frequent with Moderna, which holds 10 doses, those vials sometimes yield an 11th dose.
There’s also an issue of timing.
“If the last scheduled person walks in and you just used the last vial, you’ve got to open a new vial for that person,” Ewend told the N&O. “And then you’ve got (extra) doses left over. At the end of the day, there’s usually less than 10 doses, but rarely are we perfect and there’s none.”
The vaccine clinic staff at the Friday Center came up with a policy to ensure no vaccine goes to waste. Ewend said it starts with making every “reasonable” effort to reach those who were scheduled to receive it and those who are in the state’s active prioritization phases. Then it shifts to those working at the Friday Center, such as security guards or volunteers or paid employees.
“These vaccines are challenging. ... So none of this is perfect,” Cohen said Thursday. “But we are really encouraging folks on best practices related to getting as many doses as they can out of each and every vial and then not wasting any at the end of the end of the day. If it’s out of the freezer, use it. Use it all, and make sure you’re setting up your operations to be able to do that with wait lists and others who can come quickly, if that is needed.”
If they have to go outside the building to find people to immunize, Ewend said they created a list of community partners — all within a short radius — that they could call on those days when there are leftover vaccine doses. Because it’s the end of the day, they have to make it to the Friday Center in 15 minutes.
Those partners include the Courtyard by Marriott housekeeping staff and essential workers at the Fresh Market and Harris Teeter grocery stores nearby, the SECU Family House and Victory Village daycare center. All of those partners are two miles or less from the Friday Center. Ewend said UNC Athletics is included on the list because of its physical therapists, occupational therapists and athletic trainers, “who are health care providers working with patients.”
“Each of those groups on the list are asked to pledge that they’ll prioritize the people who are sent up to get the vaccine,” Ewend said. “That they prioritize according to a number of conditions, which include age, health conditions or being a member of an underrepresented minority group, because those are all folks that we’re really trying to get vaccines to.”
COVID-19 vaccine distribution at The Friday Center
The Friday Center, which Ewend said goes through about 850 doses per day, rotates the community partner that is on standby to receive the leftover supply every day. People who receive the first dose are scheduled to receive their second before they leave the building — even if they received the leftover vaccine doses like Davis and May did.
“As you might imagine, because in some regards people call this the ‘golden ticket,’ we’ve received numerous requests for special consideration,” said Schiller, with the UNC School of Medicine. “And we have declined all of them so there’s nobody given special treatment.”
Ewend said the Friday Center handles one out of every 50 shots in North Carolina. It became the third distribution center in Orange County after the UNC Hospitals in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill. When those were the only two sites, the leftover vaccines were easy to distribute with a call to the intensive care unit or wherever they held COVID-19 patients.
According to the state’s current plan, Group 3 will give vaccine to frontline essential workers and will include K-12 teachers and staff and college and university instructors and support staff. The state has to roll out the vaccine in waves while supplies are still limited and is still making its way through Groups 1 and 2.
“I’m hopeful that we can encourage a lot of people that have some doubts about whether or not they should take it,” Williams said. “I’m really following the Dr. (Anthony) Faucis of the world and everybody that I listen to that are specialists. That’s the way I go.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 10:04 PM.