15toKnow KoP Mall drive-through vaccine site scrambles for second doses from the state

A coronavirus testing firm with plans of one day running a massive drive-through vaccination center in the King of Prussia Mall parking lot has temporarily suspended its first-dose vaccine program, scrambling to procure and administer enough second doses from the state, while those stuck between shots wait in worry.

As a state vaccine provider, 15toKnow — a private Montgomery County-based company offering rapid COVID-19 tests from pop-up operations in mall parking lots across Pennsylvania and New Jersey — said that it is waiting on the Pennsylvania Department of Health to supply the shots it needs to fulfill the two-dose Moderna vaccine, but that the state has promised more are on the way. After administering more than 900 first doses in late January and early February, 15toKnow CEO Mike Dershowitz said through a spokesperson that the company didn’t receive from the state any second-dose shipments for the first three weeks of February, creating a lag.

The deficit comes amid a muddled vaccine rollout nationwide, and as lawmakers in Philadelphia’s collar counties are demanding answers from the state Health Department, which they say has not supplied a fair share of vaccine to the area — a claim the state contests.

» READ MORE: More COVID-19 vaccine should go to counties that want it most, suburban Philly lawmakers tell state

A state spokesperson said Monday that the department is “aware of the situation with [15toKnow] and is actively working to resolve the issues to be able to provide second doses.”

Dershowitz said that his company submitted an emergency request for more vaccines and that “the state has been very helpful and responsive.”

Slowly, he said via email, the group is making progress. Last weekend, Dershowitz said 15toKnow administered 300 second doses, and 200 the weekend prior, some “within a few days of their 42-day window for the second dose.” (The two doses contain the same vaccine but are marked differently to control distribution.)

Since October, 15toKnow has offered rapid COVID-19 tests from its mall parking lot sites — locations selected for space and to support “local retail infrastructure,” according to the company — and expanded to doling out vaccine doses in King of Prussia in January. In late February, the group touted plans for a sprawling drive-through inoculation operation in a Babies R Us parking lot, with 10 car lanes and capacity to give up to 3,000 shots per day.

But that pace would be a steep jump for 15toKnow, which since January, has received from the state a total of 1,610 first and second doses of the coronavirus vaccine combined. And since Feb. 12, the group has suspended its first-dose vaccine program indefinitely as it has struggled to give second shots to those it initially vaccinated within the recommended 42-day window.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the second Moderna shot be given within a 28-day window of the first vaccine but says it may be administered up to 42 days after the initial dose.

No one vaccinated by 15toKnow has yet surpassed 42 days between shots, the company said.

» READ MORE: Massive drive-through vaccination center being built in King of Prussia — with no guarantee the state will give it vaccine

But for those who got their first vaccine through 15toKnow and are now watching the 42-day mark creep closer without a second-dose appointment, the final shot — and closure on the experience — can’t come soon enough.

Monday marked 33 days from when James Padget received his first dose of the Moderna vaccine with 15toKnow on Feb. 3. Padget, 43, of Springfield, Delaware County, discovered the group in January via a sign-up link from a friend as he scoured the web to find shots for himself and his elderly parents with health complications.

When Padget, who is immunocompromised, and his parents received word that appointments were available during the week of Jan. 31, they drove on separate days to the 15toKnow site in King of Prussia — a parking lot of a shuttered Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse abutted by a Hooters and a Holiday Inn Express. The location was picked because of its “accessibility to a large flow of traffic,” Dershowitz said.

There, in the snow-covered lot, drivers rolled down their car windows as an attendant verified their information and jabbed them in the arm, telling them they would receive more information about a second appointment in a couple of weeks. The state has since ordered vaccine providers to schedule a second appointment at the time of the first shot.

“It’s so bizarre to think I did that,” said Sheila Criscuolo, 65, of Delaware County, who got her first dose outside Ruth’s Chris from 15toKnow on Feb. 12. “I was so excited to get my vaccine. …I was thrilled, I felt like I won the lottery.”

But as weeks went by without indication of a second-dose appointment, Criscuolo, Padget, and others interviewed by The Inquirer said their relief turned to worry.

Reaching out to the company via phone, email, and social media, they were met with messages that the group was working with the state to obtain second doses, that “studies show that one dose has an efficacy rate of about 80%,” and that “experts advise you not to worry if your second dose falls outside the 42-day recommendation.” (The company has said it encourages everyone to get complete protection by receiving both doses.)

“It doesn’t really put your mind at ease,” Padget said.

When weeks passed and she didn’t get a second appointment from 15toKnow, Criscuolo said she also contacted Delaware and Montgomery Counties for help in getting a shot but was told policy required patients to receive their first and second doses from the same provider — 15toKnow.

“You can’t get blood from a stone,” Criscuolo said. “If they’re not getting the vaccines from the state, which is what I’m hearing, that’s just the way it is.”

Last weekend, Padget’s parents, 34 days after receiving their first doses, got the long-awaited notification of their second-shot appointment at a 15toKnow site in the Plymouth Meeting Mall parking lot — a white tent wedged between an AMC movie theater and Boscov’s clothing store.

“It went fairly smoothly as far as getting the vaccine,” said Padget, who is still anxiously awaiting word on when he will get a second shot. “It’s just a matter of communication and scheduling is the real issue. And that they’re not getting enough doses from the Health Department.”

On Monday, 15toKnow’s towering King of Prussia vaccine site set-up — built by the makers of music festival sound stages — opened for drive-through rapid COVID-19 tests. The location averages 157 tests per day, Dershowitz said.

Despite the current situation, Dershowitz said he still hopes to one day use the site for a vaccine clinic, is prepared to bring in additional medical workers to staff it, and is interested in expanding vaccination efforts to other counties “if the need arises.”

“We hope the current supply chain issues that led to us temporarily ceasing administering first doses of the vaccine will be remedied — giving us the opportunity to do more to protect our communities,” he said. “However, we will not administer vaccines until we are confident that we will receive from the state enough second-dose supplies to follow up with any first doses within the necessary window.”