This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
UPDATE: UCHealth said on Thursday it would be postponing about 2,500 vaccination clinics scheduled for this weekend. The hospital system is reaching out to people who had appointments to begin rescheduling them.
Vaccination sites and hospitals around the metro are monitoring the potentially nasty weekend snowstorm, and the state on Wednesday told providers to reschedule appointments if necessary. At least two providers, HealthONE and Kaiser Permanente, said they would be rescheduling appointments.
City of Denver spokesperson Heather Burke said over email that the Bear Valley Library vaccine site will be the city's only vaccine site open this weekend (Burke said it's only open once a week, on Sundays). She said appointments at Bear Valley Library are booked, and that if the site ends up closed due to weather, appointments that day will be reschedule.
Burke added over email the city is figuring out what it would take to prompt the site's closure.
"We'll make calls as it gets closer to the impending storm, and Denver will contact folks directly to reschedule," she wrote.
Burke said the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is preparing to deploy its fleet of plows to major corridors and residential streets.
Stephanie Sullivan, a spokesperson for HealthONE, said the hospital system would be closing the Medical Center of Aurora and the Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree on Saturday and Sunday due to the weather and rescheduling 1,000 appointments.
Sullivan said the sites would reopen late on Monday.
HealthONE started notifying people about the closures on Wednesday. Sullivan said people scheduled to get vaccines at Sky Ridge and in Aurora on Saturday would be moved to next Saturday (March 20). She said people would get a chance to pick another time if that date didn't work for them. Sullivan couldn't confirm how many appointments needed to be rescheduled.
Kaiser Permanente said Wednesday it was postponing its weekend vaccination clinics. The hospital system will be contacting people over text and email to reschedule their appointments for next weekend, March 20-21. Kaiser Permanente Colorado spokesperson Nick Roper said over email this would impact about 10,000 appointments.
"We are committed to vaccinating as many Coloradans as possible, as quickly and safely as possible," the statement read. "This weekend's postponement only applies to our vaccine clinics."
UCHealth spokesperson Jessica Berry said all scheduled appointments are still on as planned, but the hospital system is keeping an eye on the weather. She said more information on its response would be available Thursday, and those with appointments that needed to be rescheduled would be contacted.
"We are certainly mindful and are ready to make that call once things are clear," Berry said.
Denver Health doesn't anticipate closing its vaccine clinic, spokesperson April Valdez said over email, though it too is keeping an eye on the weather.
Burke said Denver officials will decided Thursday whether to close the city's COVID-19 testing sites over the weekend.
Data from Denver Public Health shows more than 133,000 city residents have received an initial vaccination, and nearly 80,000 people are fully vaccinated.
A spokesperson with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the storm wouldn't interrupt the state's expected shipments of vaccines.
"Our vaccine deliveries will not be impacted," the spokesperson said in an email. "We expect this week's deliveries to be completed today and the next round of deliveries we expect to come into the state after the storm on Monday."
