Hutchinson encourages vaccination campaigns
Gov. Asa Hutchinson held a press conference Tuesday, where he announced his hope for health care providers to participate in encouraging vaccination in their communities.
As cases grew by more than 2,600 statewide — larger than last Tuesday’s increase in cases, the governor noted — Hutchinson pointed out that the vaccination rate among the state’s Medicaid beneficiaries is very low. He said only about 27,000 of the state’s approximately 627,000 Medicaid recipients, about 4%, had been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The fact is that we took a close look at this and our Medicaid beneficiary vaccination rates are very low,” he said. “Four-point-three percent of traditional Medicaid recipients are vaccinated. That is extremely, extremely low in a very vulnerable and at-risk population, and that’s a challenge for us.”
He said he thinks the low rate of vaccination in Medicaid recipients could be the difference between Arkansas, where there is a low overall vaccination rate and a high Medicaid beneficiary rate, and other states with higher vaccine rates where there are fewer Medicaid patients.
“This is something we’ve got to work on uniquely in our state,” he said. “One way to improve these numbers and outreach is to encourage more physicians to engage with those beneficiaries on the vaccines and to answer questions, consult with them at length and encourage vaccinations as these beneficiaries go into the physician or providers’ office.”
To try to help raise that rate, Hutchinson announced Tuesday that the vaccine administration reimbursement paid to doctors would be raised fro $40 to $100 per vaccine administered (either two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & John
son vaccine).
“I am asking all providers who serve traditional Medicaid clients to reach out to those who are not vaccinated, offer counseling to them, answer any questions about the benefits of vaccination — give them the medical information that they need, and it’s going to be billable to Medicaid,” he said. “It’s an incentive, obviously, for the physicians, because of not just the good it will do but because it is a very healthy reimbursement rate that we’re increasing it to.”
Hutchinson also announced that the state education department would be launching a vaccine campaign for Arkansas students 12 and older called “Stop the hesitation, get the vaccination.”
“(The department of education) will be working closely with our schools to increase the number of (vaccine) clinics they have and to encourage this with marketing tools throughout the state to encourage continued vaccination of those that are 12 and above,” he said.
Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key said he’d recently talked to a family doctor who said she was able to encourage a 14 year-old boy to get vaccinated. He shared a story about a student who played football, who, when asked if he wanted the vaccine, initially said no; however, after speaking more with his doctor and learning about how a positive case of COVID-19 could impact his football schedule, changed his mind.
“After understanding the impact that would have on his football season, he decided, ‘you know what, I think this is a good idea, I probably do need to get that vaccine,’” Key said. “Those are the conversations we’re encouraging local medical providers to have with your students, with the parents in your school districts. And we’re encouraging district leaders to bring those medical providers in, those trusted local voices, so they can have these conversations and answer whatever questions parents or students may have.”
Dr. Jose Romero, Arkansas secretary of health, said that as of Tuesday, 36% of children 12 to 18 in Arkansas had received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and an additional 20% were fully immunized.
“It’s important to note that these children are at risk. We are seeing significant increases in the number of individuals within that age group and younger hospitalized,” Romero said.
Hutchinson said that on Tuesday, 19% of the active COVID-19 cases in Arkansas were in children under the age of 18. Romero noted that vaccination can only protect those students between 12 and 18, leaving those under the age of 12 even more vulnerable. “The protection (vaccination) really is for the 12 to 18 year olds. For individuals younger than that, it’s very important that they be encouraged to wear masks when in public, and specifically when they go to school.”
The governor said that the state is also working to procure and distribute “high efficiency filtration” masks to schools to provide to children who wish to wear one but don’t have one of their own.
“Regardless of whether they have a mask mandate in the school or not, there’s going to be children that come there that need masks — maybe they got rid of their masks last year. We want to help the school districts have an adequate supply of that, particularly the high efficiency filtration masks, and we hope that will be available before school or soon thereafter. We’re working very hard to get those ready,” he said.
Key noted that ADE guidance for schools regarding COVID protocols had been updated to reflect United States Centers for Disease Control guidance which recommends that students, teachers and others at schools throughout the country wear masks on campus, regardless of whether they are vaccinated.
“Our guidance reflects their guidance. We vetted it, worked with the health department to make sure it is aligned. That change is simply about the mask and face covering recommendations for all students in schools. It is a recommendation, certainly not a mask mandate,” he said.
Key also noted that the ADE is keeping schools aware of the status of a recent court ruling that barred authorities from enforcing a state law banning mask mandates by government entities. The law went into effect about two weeks ago, but was challenged in court, resulting in Judge Tim Fox’s order for it not to be enforced until a full hearing can be held on the matter.
Hutchinson also addressed on Tuesday news that very few ICU beds were available in the state.
“We’re taking action. We first worked with the hospital association to free up additional space with beds, which means that they’re having to really monitor the acceptance of health care needs to make sure that they have adequate ICU beds available,” he said. “Through specific hospitals, we’re opening up additional beds that will be available for COVID patients as well as providing funding for staffing.”
Vaccines and testing
COVID-19 vaccines are free to everyone, regardless of whether they have health insurance or not.
Vaccines are available at several locations in El Dorado. Three COVID-19 vaccines developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have been approved for use in the United States. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for use in people as young as 12 years old, while the latter two are approved for use in anyone over the age of 18.
In Union County, COVID vaccines are available at Melvin’s Discount Pharmacy, Walmart and the Union County Local Health Unit. To set a vaccination appointment at Melvin’s, call 870-863-4155; for Walmart, visit walmart. com/COVID; and for the Local Health Unit, call 1-800985-6030.
The El Dorado School District is also holding a vaccine clinic this morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at El Dorado High School; attendees are asked to enter through the Wildcat Arena. The clinic will utilize the Pfizer vaccine.
“(We) just think it’s important for every child and adult to have as many opportunities as possible to receive the vaccine,” said ESD Superintendent Jim Tucker on Saturday. “We really want to have a successful school year and this is one way to help accomplish that.”
COVID testing is also available in Union County at SAMA, at 600 S. Timberlane in El Dorado; Medical Center of South Arkansas, at 700 W. Grove in El Dorado; the Union County Local Health Unit, at 301 American Rd. in El Dorado; and the Strong Clinic, at 253 S. Concord in Strong.