Patrick calls for changes in vaccine rollout
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is pushing the state to refine its criteria for COVID-19 vaccination eligibility, saying that whittling down the list may better prioritize vulnerable Texans and clear up confusion over when shots will actually be available.
The state is currently offering the vaccine to front-line workers and vulnerable Texans, a group of more than 9 million people — even though the state is receiving only about 300,000 doses a week. That numerical reality has made for a confusing and frustrating process for Texans eligible for a shot, with many unable to find available doses or unsure where to look with demand far exceeding supply.
“Texans need to have a better understanding of the time it will take for everyone to be vaccinated in order to reduce lines, confusion and frustration,” Patrick wrote in a Thursday letter to the state’s Expert Vaccination Allocation Panel.
It will probably be May at the earliest before all members of
that first priority group have been immunized, Dr. David Lakey, a member of the state’s vaccine panel, said in an interview this week with the Chronicle. The Texans currently eligible are included in groups 1A — health care workers and nursing home residents — and 1B, those over 65 and anyone 16 or older with certain pre-existing medical conditions.
Public health experts interviewed Friday agreed that Patrick’s suggestion could alleviate anxiety over vaccination availability and help get doses into the arms of people who need it most. So far, Texas has administered more than 1.5 million vaccine doses — a number that leads much of the nation but also signals the long road ahead for a state of 29 million people.
“Simple math makes it clear it will take us several months to vaccinate the current priority population,” Patrick said in the letter, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune.
Patrick suggested creating subgroups within 1B over the next several weeks — perhaps by first taking two weeks to vaccinate those 75 and older, a group of about 1.5 million. Then, he said, a subgroup of roughly 65,000 teachers and school staff over 65 could become eligible.
“This would help give people an idea of reasonable expectations and reduce wait times and frustration each week,” Patrick wrote. “Right now, in many cities and counties when an announcement of available vaccinations is made, website sign-up pages crash and phone calls go unanswered.”
On Friday, the Houston Health Department announced 1,600 new vaccine appointment slots. They were filled within five minutes.
It’s not immediately clear whether Gov. Greg Abbott and the Department of State Health Services will heed Patrick’s advice. A spokeswoman for the health agency said the vaccination allocation panel would likely discuss the issue Monday at its next meeting, which is not open to the public.
Abbott also has not weighed in on the matter; a spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
A smooth vaccine distribution is crucial for Texas, where coronavirus infections have soared in recent weeks. COVID-19 has claimed more than 33,000 lives in the Lone Star State, and about 13,500 Texans were hospitalized with the virus as of Friday.
Marilyn Felkner, a clinical assistant professor in public health at the University of Texas at Austin, said people would be willing to wait more patiently for a vaccine if they had a better idea of how long it would take to get an appointment.
“There are so many people in that group expecting that they can get the vaccine quickly, and that has created an unrealistic expectation,” she said.
She also endorsed the idea of starting with individuals 75 and older, aligning with recommendations from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The CDC’s guidance gives first priority to health care employees and nursing home residents, followed by anyone at least 75 years old and front-line essential workers, including grocery store workers, mail carriers, police officers and teachers.
Texas chose to assign different priority groups. While the state also started with health care workers and nursing home residents, officials abruptly opened up vaccination appointments for Texans with comorbidities and senior citizens in late December. The move came as state officials worried that providers were leaving vaccines on shelves because they could not find enough members of the first group to inoculate. If Texas does further refine its priority vaccine recipients, essential workers who are also senior citizens could move up the list, said Shaun Truelove, an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. State officials could start by vaccinating Texas’ most elderly residents, and then move on to those 65 and older who work in schools, grocery stores or public service jobs, he said.
“Something’s to be said about these front-line workers, too,” Truelove said. “We talk about them, and we’re all relying on them, but they get ignored.”
And while the shift to subgroups after weeks of allowing all members of group 1B to register may cause confusion for some people, he said, most Texans would be able to adapt quickly. Then, state officials would have to confront to a new challenge: ensuring the subgroups are still large enough to ensure no vaccines go unused.
“It has the potential to slow it down further,” Truelove said, but he added that when instituted appropriately, prioritizing the most vulnerable groups can significantly reduce hospitalization rates and fatalities.