CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – During a webinar on Friday, several county officials shared their frustration with the Iowa Department of Public Health for receiving little warning about the changes announced Thursday, which open up eligibility for the vaccine for people 64 years and younger with a medical condition that the CDC identified as the cause of serious COVID-19 disease.
An email received by KCRG-TV9’s i9 research unit shows that the Iowa Department of Public Health only alerted county health departments that it was expanding eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccinations. minutes before the announcement was made.
During the online seminar, the state health department said it expects the recently announced change to add about a million people who are eligible to receive a vaccine. The department will not give priority to people with certain illnesses, although counties may do so. The state also plans to trust people who can prove their medical condition or a history of smoking with veracity. It will also vaccinate this new group while simultaneously vaccinating the levels set in January.
The department said it made the decision after nearly 12 counties said it had completed vaccination of its population 65 and older.
Kelly Garcia, who is the interim director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the step was taken to ensure open appointments were met.
“I know not all counties will be in the same space and the step to open things up is really based on the idea that a not inconsiderable number of both pharmacy partners and local public health agencies had open appointments,” he said. “And it has been our goal, our collective goal from the beginning, to fill the maximum number of appointments and get shots in the arms as quickly as possible.”
The new guidelines will take effect on Monday, March 8th. Each county has the flexibility to begin vaccinating people under the age of 65 with an illness.
The department also indicated that they were studying state-run vaccination clinics and did not expect any changes to be made in the governor’s next emergency proclamation.
He also said the Infectious Diseases Advisory Council, which advises Iowa which vaccine populations do not plan to meet in the future.
Communication problems
Christy Roby Williams, who is Muscatine County’s director of public health, said an earlier warning would give her more time to prepare her department.
“I would respectfully request that the Iowa government consider contacting state and local public health departments when the phases change (before the change),” he told the call chat function. “This way we can better prepare our communications, call centers, employees and provide a quick response to the community.”
Many other participants agreed with this sentiment, including Becky Wolf. Wolf is the top health official in Greene County.
“Offering a 10-minute notice before releasing the press creates huge problems locally, especially for Friday. We deserve better. We appreciate everything you do for us in these impossible times.”
Tim Richmond, who is the Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator in Wapello County, said this has been a repeated complaint from local health agencies.
“Locals need to receive prior notice of significant changes so we can manage local messaging,” he said. “Failure to do so unnecessarily pits locals against statistical partners. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but it has been a repeated complaint throughout this entire pandemic.”
Ken Sharp, who chairs the Infectious Diseases Advisory Board. acknowledged that local public health departments have had few warnings about the changes.
“We listen to you and we’ve heard you every time,” he said. “And we recognize that everything is so compressed and that it continues to be so. We are doing our best to try to give you maximum notice. And we recognize that we just haven’t been able to get into a place where the previous days isn’t something we’ve been able to do. “
After Sharp responded, two different public health officials said they only wanted a warning of more than ten minutes.
Redistribution of vaccine doses to counties not yet vaccinated to persons 65 years of age or older
During the transition from Phase 1A to 1B, IDPH required everyone in a statewide Iowa phase to receive a vaccine before any county could begin vaccinating people in the next group. This is no longer the case and several county health departments have asked the state about the distribution of vaccine doses to counties that have not finished vaccinating people over the age of 65.
Ken Sharp said about 12 counties said they had completed vaccination for people 65 and older. Dana Cockrell, who is the deputy administrator of the Monroe County Department of Health, asked why doses cannot be withheld in those counties.
“If the minority of counties has met their needs, won’t they be able to suspend their submissions?” He asked in the chat. “We had just planned to allocate them to the agricultural sectors that meet the requirements and now the population suitable for vaccines has grown exponentially. Give us your vaccines so we can vaccinate people who meet the requirements. Don’t saturate the field anymore “.
Cockrell said the state puts the local health department in a position to fail.
“You are crushing our opportunities to move forward and succeed,” he wrote in the chat. “We’ve gone from forming success plans behind the ball to eight, once again.”
Sharp said he will not wait for all counties in the state to be done with a phase before expanding eligibility.
“We’re trying to find a balance between several counties that have been able to get past the waiting list,” he said. “And these are not just small and small counties, but these are a wide range of counties, including some that we would consider large counties by Iowa standards. So we’re trying to do everything we can to find that balance to allow in counties continue to progress through their populations.
Sharp also said he tries to keep promises made in the past that he would not reduce the allocation so counties can properly schedule appointments. Sharp said it was a criticism IDPH received from the county’s public health when it reassigned doses to other counties to catch up as it transitioned from Phase 1A to 1B.
Charity Loecke, who is the Delaware County Public Health Coordinator, said the state should increase its allocation if eligibility increases.
“I ask that if you expand eligibility, our vaccine allocation should increase !!,” he wrote in the chat. “For us, we think we need to reassign vaccines to other counties.”
Sharp responded that he is studying allocation strategies and is working to increase allocations to counties, but it will take some time due to the slow deployment of the vaccine.
Other people in the call also told the state that they needed more doses of the vaccine and that they had the ability to handle more doses.
IDPH is actively studying mass vaccination tests
Kelly Garcia, who is the interim director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said in the call that the state is considering hosting mass vaccination clinics as supply increases.
Helen Eddy, who is the director of the Polk County Department of Health, asked if the state was considering state-run mass vaccination clinics specifically at the Iowa Test site.
Garcia said yes and also wants to partner with counties.
“We are thinking of hosting some of the countries in the state,” he said. “We would love to partner with counties or groups of counties that would like to maintain one.”
Johnson County wants to break down those with pre-existing conditions into smaller age groups
Two different counties wanted IDPH to break down those who had just been eligible for a vaccine into smaller age groups.
Sam Jarvis, who is division manager of the Johnson County Department of Public Health, requested that ten-year-old age bands be made available for ineligibility for the additional expansion.
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