Ohioans not sure who is next in line for vaccines
Governor: ‘We’re still looking’ at what groups are highest priority
Most Ohioans waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine have no idea where they stand in line or how long it will take to get a shot.
That’s because Ohio hasn’t released any details about who receives vaccines after phase 1B, which includes those age 65 and older, K-12 school staff and some at-risk Ohioans.
Residents in other states don’t face that same uncertainty. Cancer patients in Kentucky know where they fit in the slow-moving line toward vaccination – before otherwise healthy residents ages 40 and older but after teachers and child care workers, according to the state’s plan. Meanwhile, grocery store workers in Tennessee know at which phase they can expect a vaccine.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention has recommended an order for prioritizing COVID-19 vaccines. That list includes health care providers; front-line workers such as police officers, grocery store employees and public transit workers; and those with underlying conditions that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 complications. However, states don’t have to follow it.
In fact, Ohio has already used its own criteria to pick which health conditions should go first, prioritizing diseases that start at birth or in childhood over cancer or chronic kidney disease – two conditions that the CDC puts at the top of its list. Ohio is out of step with how other states are vaccinating at-risk residents, a Kaiser Family Foundation report showed.
There’s a simple reason why Ohio’s leaders haven’t detailed who is next in line for COVID-19 vaccines: They don’t know.
“We’re still looking at it,” Gov. Mike Dewine said Tuesday. “(We’re) still trying to, frankly, look at the question of: ‘Who is most vulnerable and how do we save the most lives?’ ”
Does Ohio have a plan?
In October, Ohio submitted a plan to the CDC, outlining in broad strokes how the state would distribute COVID-19 vaccines. That plan included several phases and placed those at severe risk of COVID-19 complications ahead of front-line workers, for example.
But Ohio has already diverged from that plan by inoculating teachers and school staff earlier. Dewine wants students to return to in-person classes by March 1 so he offered the vaccine as both a carrot and a stick.
Without a plan, more than 900 groups and individuals are pleading with Dewine for a spot in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Many are making compelling, even heart-wrenching, arguments.
Take police officers, who weren’t inoculated along with other first responders but can’t socially distance in their jobs. Hamilton County deputy Donald Gilreath III recently died of COVID-19 complications. In Columbus alone, one in three police officers has contracted COVID-19.
“It’s frustrating,” said Mike Weinman, director of government affairs for the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, about finding out when police will get vaccines. “We’re not getting anything. It’s just dead silence.”
Preschool teachers and child care workers aren’t eligible for the vaccine even though their colleagues teaching kindergarten and first grade teachers have been vaccinated. They wonder, how is that fair?
Meanwhile, funeral directors and their employees are risking exposure to COVID-19 as their workload becomes unbearable. “People want to know if they are next in line so they can plan,” said Rep. Allison Russo, D-upper Arlington. “It’s extremely important that the governor makes a decision about this and announces it to the public.”
Once Ohio has a plan of who’s next, leaders need to communicate it clearly because residents are already confused about who is next in line, she added.
Dewine has hinted that Ohio’s next group of vaccine recipients will include more older adults, perhaps a drop to those age 60 and older or residents age 55 and older. That’s consistent with the state’s current practice of prioritizing older Ohioans, who comprise most of the state’s Covid-19-related deaths.
Not enough shots
Adding to that frustration is the simple fact that Ohio doesn’t have enough COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate those already on its list: those 65 and older.
The state has received between 187,000 and 230,000 doses a week to vaccinate 2.2 million Ohioans in the state’s phase 1B group. That number should increase as production ramps up and more vaccines, such as Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, are approved.
Dewine said Tuesday that Ohio wouldn’t add anyone to the list for “the next few weeks” as Ohio’s oldest residents still struggle to access the vaccine. Some have waited hours to schedule an appointment to obtain a vaccine. Others faced problems when pharmacies’ websites incorrectly blocked them from making appointments.
“We’re going to continue to give you the opportunity to be vaccinated because you are the most vulnerable people in the state of Ohio,” Dewine said.
To date, 11.3% of Ohioans have received their first shot in the two-dose regimen and 4.2% of residents have received both shots, according to Ohio Department of Health data.
As Ohio vaccinates these residents, his team is urging patience for everyone else.
“This is a batting order, but the entire team is going to get to bat,” said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the state’s chief medical officer. “I don’t want anyone to think that they won’t get this vaccine in the weeks and months to come because they’re not on the list right now.”
School’s in for summer. At least, it should be.
In an aside at his town hall last Tuesday, President Joe Biden mentioned that school districts might consider staying open all summer. It’s a phenomenal idea. We should be moving mountains – and there will be a few – to make this happen for every child in the United States who has fallen behind this past year.
The pandemic has been disastrous for children (and their parents and their teachers). Children are missing academic, social and developmental milestones because remote-learning programs are poor substitutes for in-person classes. School absences have doubled. Many low-income, rural and homeless kids without reliable internet access have stopped attending classes; one report last fall estimated that 3 million children might have received no formal education, virtual or otherwise, since March.
But even if we vaccinated every teacher and made every other adaptation necessary to get schools reopened tomorrow (and recent developments unfortunately suggest that ain’t happening), kids have already fallen behind. Resuming regular classes alone won’t be sufficient to recover this lost ground.
Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco recently estimated that pandemic-related learning disruptions will reduce the size of the economy over the next 70 years. Seventy years!
Classes this summer and next, or other instructional time during the normal school year, are critical opportunities to make up for coronavirus-related learning disruptions, particularly since in-person instruction is likely to be widely available again by June. But there are a few obstacles.
The first, obviously, is money. The Learning Policy Institute has estimated that it would cost about $36 billion to provide just 20 additional days of schooling for half of the country’s students. Both Biden’s budget request and House Democrats’ reconciliation bill set aside less (closer to $29 billion) specifically for learning losses.
They should aim bigger.
The notion that “this spending will pay for itself” has become somewhat of a trope, but it’s almost certainly true in this case. A recent study on school closures suggested that their long-term economic costs might reach hundreds of billions of dollars when students’ reduced future earning power is accounted for.
Spending now to recover some of that lost learning would offer a substantial return on investment.
Another possible hurdle is teachers’ collective bargaining agreements.
Teachers’ contracts typically do not require them to work through the summer. Many educators are understandably exhausted, and some early polling suggests they may not be keen on shortening their own summer break. More money might persuade them otherwise, of course.
Some families may also push back on proposals to extend the school year, particularly higher-income parents who enroll their kids in camps and other summer enrichment programs. But policymakers should start building the case for summertime schooling now. Finally, there are infrastructure issues.
A lot of schools don’t have air conditioning, for example, and sweltering July classes may not be terribly conducive to catching kids up. Schools should begin making capital investments now, or find other suitable facilities.
There are a lot of urgent tasks at the moment – including that preliminary step of just getting schools reopened. But discussions about plans for summer and other extended learning need to happen now, more frequently and more loudly. We can’t let children down yet again.