Staffing Issues, Mistake Lead To Cancellation Of 2 Vaccine Clinics Set Up For Coloradans To Get Boosters

(CBS4) - As the world continues to watch omicron closely, the State of Colorado's message remains the same: Get your vaccine doses. They are adding community vaccine clinics so Coloradans can get their boosters hoping to make it easier.

Things didn't wind up being easier for Kevin Wood. He told CBS4 he was trying to get a booster at Ball Arena but left after learning the Colorado Department of Transportation's mobile vaccine bus which was scheduled to be there was not.

"No signs. No bus. Drove down to one parking lot and the other parking lot and drove back and walked around," Wood said.

"My first reaction was aggravation, frustration. At least if it's canceled put up a sign," he said.

In addition to that situation, over the weekend the state canceled an equity clinic they set up with Adelante Community Development in Commerce City.

Maria Gonzales is the director of the nonprofit and spoke with CBS4 about it.

"The vaccine never came, and I got an email one hour before saying the clinic was canceled," she said.

Gonzales says despite attempts to bring in their own staff, CDPHE says they couldn't verify credentials in time to get to those who were already lined up vaccinated.

"We already had people, we had taken names, phone numbers and were telling them 'You know, the vaccine should be here any time thank you for coming' and it was devastating to know the vaccine never came," she said.

CDPHE says the bus that didn't show at Ball Arena was simply a mistake on the schedule that was sent out to the public.

Gov. Jared Polis says at the weekend clinic, staff called in sick. With hundreds of events around the state, Polis says it's bound to happen.

"Everybody is trying their best. The workforce is stretched thin. We need qualified people to do this work," Polis said.

Still, he says they are working to help prevent it from happening again.

"What we are working on doing is developing a reserve, a flexible workforce that if staff calls in sick for a particular site we can then send in that staff," he said.

While Gonzales says staffing issues are understandable -- and they have had several successful clinics with the state -- the last-minute changes with no notification will impact trust in her community.

"It's important to have communication and somewhere along the department, communication was broken," she said.

A spokesperson for CDPHE says if a clinic is going to be canceled they will notify those who are registered, and for walk-up clinics they suggest checking their website beforehand. And they apologized for the mix-up at Ball Arena.