Patients want primary care doctors to give vaccine but find scant supply, NC doc says

Charlotte’s largest independent doctor’s office, Tryon Medical Partners, finally will receive its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week — between 100 and 200 doses.

But that’s not enough, according to Tryon Medical CEO Dr. Dale Owen. Primary care physicians have been left out of the state’s vaccine rollout from the beginning, he said.

“Patients have a relationship, a long-term, intricate, intimate relationship with their physicians, especially their primary care physicians,” Owen said. “And that’s really important to them. They rely on their guidance... That has been forgotten in this process.”

State Treasurer Dale Folwell has gone public with similar concerns, calling on the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to provide vaccines to primary care physicians, pediatricians and all pharmacies.

“We need to move the vaccines out of the expensive hospital environment,” Folwell said in a Jan. 28 statement. “In 62 years, I’ve never gone to a hospital to get a vaccine. For more than 100 years, citizens have entrusted primary care physicians, pediatricians and pharmacies to administer vaccines.”

Other providers receiving vaccine shipments in Mecklenburg County, including hospital systems Atrium Health and Novant Health, along with the county health department, get the doses directly from the state. Tryon Medical’s shipment is a transfer of vaccines from Mecklenburg County Public Health, Owen said.

Eligible Tryon Medical patients are still able to make appointments with the county health department, Atrium or Novant.

But many people, especially elderly patients, have told Owen they’d prefer to get vaccinated by their primary care physician, he said. That includes elderly patients or people without reliable Internet access who might have difficulty signing up for an appointment with a new doctor or health system, Owen said.

The independent practice announced this month that it had been approved by the state to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. But doctors at Tryon Medical still don’t know when the state will begin sending them vaccines.

NC DHHS did not immediately respond to questions from the Observer.

The comfort of patients

Tryon Medical already has freezers to store over 200,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, which require extremely cold temperatures, Owen said, adding: “It’s been ready.”

The practice serves more than 150,000 patients in the Charlotte area. Owens estimates 30,000 to 40,000 of those patients are currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines.

The majority of vaccines in Mecklenburg County are distributed by Atrium Health. Novant Health too, is distributing thousands of vaccines in the area.

But many of Tryon Medical’s patients would be more comfortable getting the vaccine from their primary care physician, Owen said.

“At least half of my patients say that they’re waiting for us to get it before they get it from anywhere,” he said.

Excluding many primary care physicians and pharmacies from the initial stages of the vaccine rollout is a “lost opportunity,” Owen said.

‘We know what we’re doing’

Tryon Medical Partners was formed after nearly 100 doctors announced plans in 2018 to break off from Atrium, Charlotte’s largest hospital system. At the time, the split bucked a nationwide trend of health care consolidation.

Since then, Tryon Medical has expanded outside of Mecklenburg County. That happened after several doctors announced plans in 2019 to leave CaroMont Medical Group’s South Point Family Practice in Gaston County to join Tryon Medical.

Owen said he wants to see the state get vaccines out to every provider who has the capacity to distribute them. Otherwise, when the supply of vaccines increases, the state won’t have the infrastructure ready to distribute it.

“Time is of the essence,” he said. “This is a race to vaccinate before a mutation develops that makes these vaccines ineffective.”

Tryon Medical has been involved in the COVID-19 vaccine efforts for months, and has even participated in vaccine trials for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

“We know what we’re doing,” Owen said. “We have great experience with the vaccines, and why we’re excluded is unbelievable.”