The U.S. Covid vaccination effort lags far behind the original estimates. More than 15.4 million doses have been administered in the states, but only 4.5 million Americans have received the first shot according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Providence’s hospital system, however, has defied the country’s slow deployment trend and given the first dose of the vaccine to more than half of its 120,000 employees in 51 hospitals in seven states.
Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, clinical director of Providence, told “The News with Shepard Smith” that “planning is the antidote to panic.” He said Providence began making strategies in September to identify caregivers with the highest risk and how to integrate technology, such as emails and text, to streamline the deployment process.
He explained to host Shepard Smith that one of the solutions was to build a “validation and verification” tool to manage the deployment of vaccines in the provider’s hospitals. The tool contained “roles” that consisted of specific jobs and also contained work locations of those in the Providence system. Then, then, people would contact and validate the data.
“Because we did this, we really evaded a lot of dismay that you’ve heard of other organizations that, unwittingly, despite their best intentions, have sidelined key groups of people who should be immunized. said Compton-Phillips. “So I think the biggest lesson we would have is feel free to start doing something, some vaccines are better than none. Also, ask your people, make sure you have news, don’t just rely on the data”.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar estimated that 20 million Americans “could” be vaccinated by the end of December and that another 50 million “could” be vaccinated by the end of January. He added that we “expect” 100 million vaccinations in total by the end of February.
CDC officials have attributed the slow deployment to complex vaccine storage, the strain on public health departments and health care providers, and the timing of the deployment of vaccination in the midst of the holidays.
Federal officials have blamed states for implementing vaccination campaigns. On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledged that hospitals in his state need to administer vaccines more quickly and threatened fines.
“Any provider who does not use the vaccine could receive a fine of up to $ 100,000 in the future, will have to use the allocation within seven days. Otherwise, it may be removed from future distribution,” he said. Cuomo.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a similar warning to hospitals and said the state could try to turn test sites into vaccination centers. California Gov. Gavin Newsom committed $ 300 million in funding for vaccination in its current budget proposal.
The success of the Providence launch still identified areas for improvement. One in five nurses at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, California, has refused the shot, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Compton-Phillips noted that the hospital is in a less-served area and is dealing with a large immigrant community. He said Providence is trying to understand what the barriers to vaccination are to better serve the community.
“We know that there are vaccine hesitations, particularly in some underserved communities, communities of color that have less confidence in the health care system, so we partner very deeply to understand these concerns and make sure we address them” because we can convince people to do what interests them best, which is to protect themselves from this virus, ”Compton-Phillips said.