Leading vaccine rollout is `humbling responsibility'
Keith Reed focuses on getting shots into arms
The Oklahoma State Department of Health' s deputy commissioner of health s pent much of his public health career preparing for an outbreak.
But he never imagined he would play a key role in responding to a pandemic of this size and scope.
Keith Reed, 52, worked his way up through the ranks of Oklahoma's county health departments helping local public health entities prepare for bioterrorism threats, namely smallpox.
Now, after nearly two decades with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Reed is coordinating the state's COVID- 19 vaccine roll out, which came with unexpected complications.
A colonel in the Oklahoma Air National Guard and a registered nurse with a Master's in Public Health from the University of Oklahoma, Reed has the military discipline and medical background to lead during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He spends long hours every week coordinating how to get shots into Oklahomans' arms. By most accounts, he has succeeded as Oklahoma has consistently ranked among the top states for vaccine administration per capita.
In an hour-long interview with The Oklahoman, Reed discussed the triumphs and challenges of t he vaccine rollout.
How did you come to be in charge of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution?
The immunization division is under my portion of the agency, and the county health departments are also under my responsibility within t he agency. You combine all of that together, that's the majority of our agency's responsibility for vaccination programs. Just to give you a little bit of my background within the agency, I started in McAlester, working for the local county health department there. I started with what was our bioterrorism division, which was preparedness, emergency preparedness.
Do you have concerns that we will come out on the other side of this pandemic and county health department employees will be so worn out that they will quit?
No, I hope not. I hope we are able to take care of them and get them there st that they need, so they come out as truly committed public health professionals. One of the challenges for our staff in the counties is that public health is along game. You have to understand this is not ER work for medical professionals. You don't see an immediate improvement in the vital signs of a community. This is something that's a little bit different. While it's not immediate what they're doing right now, the vaccination program can and will show a difference. They're seeing the impact of what they're doing on the faces of all those in the 65+ population that's walking out.
What's the hardest part of this vaccine rollout for you?
For right now, it's managing such a precious resource for such a precious part of the population that's been hit so hard. We've got something our 65+ population, they look at as an extension of their life.
They look at that as something life saving. I know they' re scared. Many won't admit it, but many of them will. And then, the quality of life when you can't l eave your home, when you're afraid to go out. I will breathe a sigh of relief when we get our 65+ population in a good place.
How did you begin to plan for the vaccine rollout? Did the Health Department have plans ready and waiting?
It's a mass immunization/ prophylaxis strategy ( MIPS plan). For years, we worked on this. This pandemic didn't follow the rules. For example, a lot of the plans we worked on with t he CDC ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they were contingent on the CDC coming in with the Strategic National Stockpile to meet our population's needs. It wasn't there. What was there was expired or it didn't meet our needs. So, even in the early days, when the pandemic started off, nothing went according to the plan.
If this was a single-dose vaccine, like your standard flu shot, and they would dump thousands and thousands of dose son us and it wasn't a supply issue, we could knock this out because the models work, our PODS ( point- ofdispensing sites) work.
Did you ever plan on having a two-dose vaccine?
We didn't anticipate that. We planned for a population of 4 million, but in this case, it's like planning for a population of 8 million people. And it' s more complicated than that because you have to ensure that each one of those people can get back to that second dose if they have the first. The logistics around this have been enormous. The experience we've had on practicing for those things, for doing our PODS (point-of-dispensing sites), the community partnerships we established — those are all very much at play now.
So you couldn't have planned for a pandemic of this size and scope?
We anticipated we would have a pandemic, but we didn' t anticipate some of the complexities. This pandemic impacted every aspect of society and it has from the start. The impact has just been incredible, so it just makes what we're doing with the vaccination program so important.
Is vaccine distribution a little different all across the state?
It is. We've been doing centralized planning, but it' s decentralize de xe cution. We try to provide (the counties) the inf ra st ructure to help them, but if we try to dictate exactly how they execute that locally, then we're just going to be a hindrance.
Are you doing a good job of getting the vaccine out to rural areas as well as in urban areas?
I think we are probably doing somewhat better in the rural areas, and I say that because we have people from the urban areas going to some rural areas. I think we've done a good job of getting it out across the state, but I think now, we need to make sure that our urban areas are getting as much as they need.
Are people constantly telling you how you could rollout vaccines better? How do you handle the criticism?
Everybody has an idea of how to do it better or different, and I do my best to listen. One of my general leadership tenets is always assume there's a better way to do it. But I'm also a big believer in don't let perfect get in the way of the good. I've seen project after project in state government drag on for months and months because everybody wasn't quite happy with it. There is no shortage of opinions on how we can do it better, and we take all that into consideration.
What keeps you going?
It' s to save lives in Oklahoma. This is some humbling responsibility, but I can't walk away from that. We have an amazing team. I would say my biggest success on this was picking the right people to be part of the team.
Do you have a date circled on a calendar for when you hope this pandemic might be less severe or over entirely?
In my mind, it's Memorial Day. Let's see what we can do by Memorial Day, but what we can do by then depends on vaccine supply and new vaccines coming on board.
Have you taken the vaccine?
Yeah, we knew that we had to get our key planning team vaccinated. For me, it was to make sure I could stay on the job.
What would you say to someone who may be hesitant to take a COVID-19 vaccine?
The vaccine is safe, it's very effective, and doing so could save your life and it could save a family member's life. If you don't want to do it for yourself. Do it for your family, do it for your neighbors.
Reporter Carmen Forman covers state government, politics and the COVID19 pandemic for The Oklahoman. Send story tips to cforman@oklahoman.com or connect on Twitter with @CarmenMForman. Please support her work, and the work of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a print or digital subscription today at oklahoman.com/subscribe.