Sunshine Clinic prepares for second round of COVID-19 vaccinations

As of Friday, more than 90,000 Alaskans have received at least the first round of vaccine for COVID-19.  The shots are being administered at hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics across the state, including Sunshine Community Health Center in the Northern Susitna Valley.

Lane Baker is Sunshine’s Medical Administrative Manager.  Part of his job is to keep an eye on the supply chain for the vaccines.  Sunshine’s efforts have been small compared to some larger facilities, but Baker says the clinic has tripled its original vaccine order for an additional 300 doses.

“One of those boxes of 100 doses will be for second rounds for people who have already had their Moderna vaccines. We are still sticking with Moderna.  We’re not moving to Pfizer….Moderna is much easier to handle.  We don’t have the super-cold storage required for Pfizer.”

Baker says starting slowly, with ten vaccinations per day twice a week let Sunshine staff feel out what their vaccination capacity might be.  Between paperwork and an observation period after a patient receives the shot, it takes more time than just a stick in the arm.  Now that they have a handle on how much time it takes to administer a vaccine, Baker says Sunshine has stepped up its appointments.

“We’re doing quite a few vaccinations a day.  In fact, we’re scheduled out to do thirty or forty vaccinations a day. Our doses are not going to last that long.  We’re going to rip through them as quick as we can so we can re-order again.”

With newly developed vaccines that came out of an accelerated testing and approval process, some questions remain.  Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have a suggested timeframe between the shots to achieve maximum effectiveness.  Dr. George Hightower, Sunshine’s Medical Director, says there might be some leeway of a day or so in either direction of the recommended period, but having to wait, say, an extra week, could mean having to start the process over again.  Hightower says if there’s any doubt as to whether the vaccine has successfully activated a patient’s immune system, the best way to find out is to look directly through a process called an antibody titer. If you remember titrations from high school chemistry, it’s based on the same process.

“Regardless of whether you got all your dosing on time, or you got it a few days after the scheduled immunization period, titers are the only thing that are going to tell us if you got immunity.  That’s by taking a blood sample and testing if antibodies have developed.”

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services has a COVID-19 vaccination website with information on who is eligible to receive a vaccine and where appointments can be made. Locally, Lane Baker says patients can call the Talkeetna clinic for appointment information.