(Reuters) – As US industries push for workers to receive early access to COVID-19 vaccines, local health departments and pharmacies face the challenge of verifying the identities of essential workers to ensure no one return the line.
The ongoing vaccination campaign now focuses on hospital staff and nursing homes, highly controlled environments where verification is relatively straightforward. But starting in January or February, Americans working in various industries will be eligible for the innocence, as long as they are front-line workers.
The absence of a plan to verify the jobs of vaccine candidates and the confusion about who qualifies as essential increases the risks of fraud and disorganization.
WHO DECIDES WHICH WORKER IS ESSENTIAL?
The criteria for qualifying as a front-line essential worker vary from state to state. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that approximately 30 million essential workers will be next in line. An additional 57 million essential workers will be vaccinated later.
The lack of clear guidelines will significantly complicate the verification process as these workers look for traits.
The United States has two authorized COVID-19 vaccines, one from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE and one from Moderna Inc. Vaccines are being rolled out as hospitals reach full capacity and deaths exceed 317,000.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a list of essential U.S. workers during the pandemic in March. bit.ly/3aBDtFx
The list covers nearly 70% of the U.S. workforce and has provided little clarity to health officials trying to initially distribute limited doses of vaccines.
During the summer, many states began to develop their own priority lists, sometimes neglecting the importance of local industries. In general, states have wide discretion regarding the distribution of vaccines.
This has led to a package of guidelines across the country, with companies complaining that their workers are considered essential in one state but not another.
A panel of experts advising the CDC on Sunday recommended that people 75 and older and workers, including first aid, teachers, food and agriculture, manufacturing, the U.S. postal service, public transportation, and grocery workers, have the next priority for vaccines.
Some U.S. states have indicated that they will, however, continue with the distribution plans they originally drafted.
Michael Einhorn, president of New York-based medical supply distributor Dealmed, criticized health officials’ decisions to prioritize essential workers for the next phase of the vaccine, rather than distributing it along the age lines. .
“There will be people trying to cut the line and commit fraud to get a vaccine,” said Einhorn, whose company has been involved in distributing the flu vaccine.
HOW WILL ELIGIBILITY FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS BE CONFIRMED?
It is still unclear how health departments and pharmacies will verify the identity of a group of people significantly larger and more diverse than eligible for the next round of vaccines.
CVS pharmacy operators Walgreens and Kroger Co were referring to state and local guidelines when asked how they would verify essential workers.
“If the jurisdiction requests support from Walgreens, the jurisdiction will distribute a voucher or authorization form that the person can use to schedule an appointment for vaccination,” a Walgreens spokeswoman said in a statement.
CVS said it would share more information as it approaches the next phase of vaccine distribution in the first quarter of 2021.
Kroger, in a statement, said it would require customers to take an online appointment and use a detection tool to manage the verification process.
“In some cases, the state will identify and verify people before they are referred to us for vaccination,” a Kroger spokeswoman said.
States have not outlined how they will verify the identity of the workers. Companies that push for their workers to be vaccinated are exploring different options.
The Association of Consumer Brands, which represents food, beverage, personal care and household products companies, and the Food Industry Association, which represents food retailers, said they were developing letter templates for employees to verify their status as an essential worker.
“We understand that states may have different designation standards, but (we are) working to provide our members with a resource that will help reduce confusion,” a spokeswoman for the Food Industry Association said in a statement.
Report by Tina Bellon in New York; Edited by Cynthia Osterman