Priority recipients for the vaccines developed to combat COVID-19 are those who are fighting the disease and those most vulnerable to it.
The distribution plan for the vaccine was outlined in a plan crafted by health care experts, but Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Lance Frye and Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed said while those priorities are set in a four-stage plan that begins with front line health care professionals and ends with the general population least susceptible to COVID-19, priorities are open to change.
At a press conference late last week, Frye said priorities to be assigned to the expected shipments of vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna would begin with front line health care workers dealing with the pandemic in acute care facilities, followed by staff and residents of extended care facilities, other health care workers, emergency responders, confined populations, teachers and others who constitute “most at risk populations.”
Specifically, the vaccine distribution network identifies four broad groups, totaling 115,500 people in that first phase: nursing home, assisted living, and long-term care facility staff; public health staff conducting frontline COVID-19 pandemic mitigation and control activities (to include nurses, lab personnel and others with direct contact with the public); health care workers providing direct inpatient COVID care; and nursing home, assisted living, and long-term care facility residents.
Reed said some of the vaccine distribution for that first priority group is expected to come from the federal government. Both health care and long-term care staff and residents are identified in Operation Warp Speed as priority groups, and federal officials are working with some of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains to provide vaccines directly to long-term care staff and residents, Reed said.
Reed also said Oklahoma already has notified the federal government that it wants inoculations to long-term staff and residents to be implemented as soon as possible.
“We’re set to kick off as soon as it is delivered from the federal government,” he said, adding that process likely will be one to two weeks following initial vaccines to frontline health care workers in acute care settings.
He also predicted it may be the vaccine created by Moderna that would be used in long-term care centers.
“That makes sense,” he said, of the Moderna vaccine because it can be stored at “normal” frozen temperatures, rather than the ultracold (minus 70 degrees Celsius) needed for storage fo the vaccine made by Pfizer, and because fewer doses of it will be needed. “That program fits in better with the needs of Moderna, rather than the complex needs of the Pfizer product.”
Frye said the four-phase distribution plan was created by a panel of advisers who used their expertise and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control to create what he calls a “quite complex” plan.
“Our plan pretty much aligned with other recommendations,” he said, adding that while priorities are set, if a health agency shows up at a specific site with 1,000 doses of vaccine for health care professionals and there are only 800 workers there, “another 200 people will get doses. We’re not going to waste any vaccine.”
There already are discussions about changing priorities. In the existing staged plan, prisoners in the state’s correctional facilities have a higher priority (Phase 2) than do teachers (Phase 3), and some have objected. Frye said prisoners fit into what is defined as congregate living, or situations where large groups of people live together.
“Congregate living is one of the highest risks,” he said, adding the state has had some interaction with the CDC about changing the guidance on teachers because of pushback. “There’s probably more to come on that.”
Other factors will be weighed in the distribution to priority groups, but some of those decisions are being made by the federal government. For example, the federal government will have direct distribution to the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, among others, Reed said, adding those will be handle independently of state distributions.
But in the end, “logistics will dictate the sequence in how we give vaccines,” Reed said.
Frye and Reed expect vaccines to be available for the general public (Phase 4, or about 556,500 people) in the first quarter of 2021, or by spring, a time frame echoed by federal officials.
Another factor to consider: just how many Oklahomas will be interested in getting the vaccine?
“That will determine how quickly we move through phases,” Reed said, adding he and others expect to have sufficient vaccine available to maintain “normal, uninterrupted operations. We don’t anticipate lulls when waiting for the delivery of inventory.”
Both Frye and Reed said what won’t be done is mandates, at least, not at the state level.
“We’re not mandating anything,” Frye said, adding that may not be true across the board. “Individual facilities can take a different action.”
Frye, a doctor, compared the issue to influenza vaccines: “I can’t work at any hospital unless I get my flu vaccine every year.” So, while the State of Oklahoma won’t mandate the vaccine, he said entities such as the Department of Corrections and nursing homes may take another route.
While Frye doesn’t expect a mandate, he said he is encouraging health care workers to receive the vaccine. He said those vaccines have a 95 percent effectiveness rate and what he called impressive safety profiles vetted by the country’s best experts.
“I would absolutely get this vaccine,” he said. “I have no hesitation taking it, and I would highly encourage them to do that. We don’t want any more deaths in our state.”
While acknowledging the skepticism of some Oklahomans, Frye said there has been a change in that view in recent months. While initially 50 percent of Oklahomans said they wouldn’t take the vaccine, Frye said faith has increased considerably across the nation since then. A recent survey now shows about one-third of the nation’s residents have concerns about the vaccine, the result of what he called promising information provided by those creating it.
Jackie Shawnee, chief of staff for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said her agency will be distributing a statewide survey to better understand the feelings of Oklahomans and their willingness to take the vaccine.
