Across the country, these medical professionals say their help will be needed for distribute the vaccines to millions of Americans, and they are trained to do so.
“When you look at what dentists do and how many injections they give each day, I think they’re more than qualified,” said Jim Wood, a member of the California State Assembly and dentist. “It’s obvious.”
In California, professional organizations representing dentists and optometrists are in talks with state officials to expand their competencies and include vaccine administration.
Oregon it has already begun training and certifying dentists to administer vaccines. And at least half of the states have considered allowing them to administer covid vaccines once they become available, according to the American Association of Dental Boards.
This list is likely to be chalked up, because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended in October that states consider expanding their list of vaccine providers.
Dentists and optometrists seeking permission to vaccinate patients against covid-19 and other diseases argue that your help will relieve some of the pressure from hospitals and doctor’s offices. You could also bring some extra money to your offices.
“Everyone in our specialized health care system should play a preventative role,” said Dr. William Sage, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Texas-Austin. “Pandemic or not, being alert to preventative health in any scenario is a good thing.”
In November, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca announced that their candidate vaccines had shown promising results in clinical trials, and that millions of doses could be ready by the end of the year. Pfizer’s has to be stored at deep-frozen temperatures, while Moderna’s and AstraZeneca’s can be kept at standard refrigerator temperatures.
Swine flu
It would not be the first time that other health professionals, in addition to doctors, have administered vaccines during a pandemic. Nursing students, paramedics, and midwives in a handful of states have been granted temporary and limited authority to administer vaccines during the pandemic. 2009-10 H1N1 swine flu. Dentists in Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and Minnesota are also allowed to work, temporarily, as vaccinators.
Since then, Minnesota and Illinois have approved the rights that allow dentists to administer flu vaccines to adults. And last year, Oregon it became the first state that allowed dentists to administer any vaccine to any patient, whether a child or an adult.
So far, more than 200 dentists and dental students in that state have completed the training course offered by the University of Oregon School of Health and Science, and expect another 60 to be completed by the end of December, according to Mary Pat. Califano, the instructor who helped develop the practical part of the training.
Students take about 10 hours of online classes. Then perform a workout during which you will practice the doll injections, before administering the saline injection to a partner. They are taught to advise patients about vaccines as patients have some injury after the injection.
Once dentists pass an exam, they can register with the Oregon Health Authority and begin training their staff to administer vaccines and get a refrigerator to store.
Complement doctors
The goal, Califano said, is not to replace family or primary care physicians, but complement them. The Federal Agency for Health Research and Quality found that in 2017, 31.1 million U.S. teams went to a dentist, but not a doctor.
” You need as many people as possible to get flu shots and covid-19 cows when they are available.“Califano emphasized.” If someone goes to the dentist, and that provider is trained to get a vaccine, why not? “
In California, the state dental association has considered applying for vaccination powers, which will likely require the intervention of the legislature. This year, California passed a law that allows covid vaccines to be administered pharmaceutically approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr. Bill Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, said they are proposed to expand the workforce in the field of vaccines are promised. Influenza vaccines, which are relatively low-risk and easy to administer, would be the perfect candidate for storage in dental and optometric refrigerators.
But Schaffner does not believe that dentists and optometrists will play an important role in covid’s immunization effort. He says it would take too long to pass legislation to allow vaccines to be administered to every professional who requests it in every state. And since some COVID vaccines have specific shipping and storage requirements below zero, it will likely be distributed only to personal capacity in a small number of sites, he said.
There is also the issue of payment. It is difficult, though not impossible, to make a profit by administering vaccines, added Schaffner.
Suppliers have to decide each season how many doses to buy, and those that spoil or remain in the refrigerator until they expire are equivalent to monetary losses.
Jeff McCombs, a professor of health economics at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, said for most dentists it makes no commercial sense to get vaccinated.
According to McCombs, it would be difficult to keep a well-stocked vaccine refrigerator, with enough variety, to meet the needs of patients without despairing doses. Usually adults who choose not to get vaccinated do so because they have no education about vaccines or because they are afraid, he said, not because they cannot access them..
“I don’t think it’s going to hurt anyone,” McCombs noted. “I just don’t think they make money from it.”
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a non-profit news service that covers health topics. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) that has no relation to Kaiser Permanent.
