Texas state health officials announced Monday who will be next in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine after health workers and long-term care residents. Instead of following federal guidelines, Texans over the age of 65 and those over the age of 16 who suffer from chronic illness will be the next group of people to be offered the vaccine. This decision departs from federal guidelines that recommend that people over the age of 75 have priority over essential workers.
The second group will include about eight million jeans that will be eligible for vaccination. The state offers 1.9 million Texans in health care and those who reside first in long-term facilities, as recommended by federal guidelines. The guidelines recommend that 75-year-olds and essential workers be the next group in which the vaccine is offered. As Jazz wrote (subscription required), these essential workers include teachers and public safety employees. Texas health officials go with the recommendations of a 17-member vaccine expert advisory group led by Imelda Garcia. She is the Associate Commissioner of Laboratory Services and Infectious Diseases of the State Department of Health Services. Dr. John Hellerstedt, state health commissioner, has the final decision on prioritization.
The decision was based on data, according to the group. It’s about protecting the most vulnerable in Texas. Older people make up more than 70% of COVID-19 cases in Texas. Adults with underlying medical conditions are more likely to develop severe cases of the virus. Garcia said: “This approach ensures that jeans with the most severe risk of COVID-19 can be protected between races and ethnicities and regardless of where they work.” State data show that black and Hispanic jeans are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Governor Abbott said he believes teachers should be close to the line. Leaders from major industries such as airlines, travel sharing companies and the energy sector that will be vaccinated below put a lot of pressure on the expert group. No industry specific to the second group is indicated. Workers with chronic illnesses or over the age of 65 will qualify. It seems that following science would mean that individual needs will arrive before group generalizations are completed.
“There have been people in all of these essential industries who have had risk factors that have caused them to have a worse experience with the disease,” Dr. John Zerwas, executive vice president of health affairs for the University of Texas system.
“The thinking behind it is to follow epidemiology,” he said. “We get the vaccine to people who have a higher risk of having a bad result and make our way to as many people as we can.”
Approximately 9.5 million jeans have high-risk diseases; 3.9 million jeans are over 65; and 3.2 million work in essential jobs, according to previous state estimates. Some people fall into several categories, although it is unclear how many.
As is being reported elsewhere, some Texas health workers are approving vaccines, at least for now. So many workers at a South Texas hospital turned down the shots over the weekend that were offered to other people in the community. One person who took advantage and jumped the line was state Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat who is part of the state’s vaccine advisory panel. This does not go very well with some of its components. Doctors blame distrust and misinformation for the lack of participation of medical staff.
So many workers at a hospital in the Rio Grande Valley rejected the new COVID-19 vaccine that the facility offered doses to other medical workers in the region. Many showed up, but so did a state lawmaker, a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy who were not on the state’s list of priorities for vaccination.
Dr. Robert Martinez, DHR Health’s chief medical officer, said hospital officials gave priority to employees considered at the first level for a dose, such as hospital staff working directly with COVID-19 patients. and long-term care workers. But administrators realized there weren’t enough people eligible for the vaccine who would initially choose to get it, Martinez said.
“You’re starting to see similar figures across the country, all this mistrust and misinformation,” he said.
Initially, between 40% and 60% of people who responded to a hospital survey said they would get the vaccine, Martinez said. The Monitor first reported the lowest-expected vaccine adoption rate.
DHR Health did not want to waste vaccine doses. After the first day of distribution, the hospital began to go down “down the steps … down the stairs a bit,” Martinez said. Hospital employees called health workers from other medical institutions, such as hospitals, nursing homes, behavioral health centers, and anyone with COVID-19 front-line workers, in cities and counties. neighbors of the valley.
It will be weeks before the second group can receive the vaccine. The state has just started vaccinating the first group. Texas officials expect to receive about 1.4 million doses by the end of the year.
Front-line workers, including teachers and their unions, are pushing for school employees to go to the helm of the line. It seems to me that a distinction must be made between teachers who are in the classroom and those who continue to teach practically classes. A common sense approach is certainly needed whenever the supply of vaccines is so limited at first.
In Texas, there has been a flurry of pressures for priority access to vaccines, including teachers and other school employees, who expect more students to receive instruction again in the spring.
“We believe that teachers and all other school employees should be given priority and we will be very disappointed if they are not,” said Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association. I had not yet seen the details of the ad.
There are between 600,000 and 700,000 estimated school employees across the state, Robinson said.
Governor Abbott is scheduled to receive his vaccine on camera today.