A letter from the Department of State Health Services was sent Wednesday urging COVID-19 vaccine providers to use up their doses “with all deliberate speed” even if that means jumping ahead in the tiers delineating priority groups.
DHR Health and UTRGV confirmed they received the letter from the state authored by DSHS Commissioner John Hellerstedt.
Providers administering the vaccine must report the use of each dose on the state’s immunization registry, ImmTrac2 system. Those records indicate a “delay” in usage.
“Based on data reported to ImmTrac2,” the letter reads, “it has become clear that a significant portion of vaccine in Texas may not be administered yet. We know you have valid reasons as to why this has happened in some cases — but we also know that every day a vaccine sits on the shelf is another day that prolongs the pandemic that is hindering our state’s economy and way of life.”
State-approved providers were tasked with following state and federal guidelines, including an agreement to prioritize the vaccines according to tiers.
Last week, The Monitor reported some people receiving the vaccine at DHR Health were outside of the first tier group. Over the weekend, a Texas Tribune photo of a state senator receiving the vaccine at the same hospital also prompted questions about the order of the vaccines.
DHR Health Chief Physician Executive Dr. Robert Martinez said last week, “So, the goal is to get it [the vaccine] to the most appropriate people first. If they don’t want it, they’ve gotten the chance.” He added, “But, if you offer it and they don’t take it, then you got to move on to the next round.”
The letter received Wednesday echoed Martinez’s sentiments.
It added: “Once all readily available and willing members of the primary Phase 1A priority populations have been served – including 1A persons outside your facility – we urge you to pivot quickly and begin providing vaccine to as many readily available and willing Phase 1B persons as possible. There is no need to ensure all of your 1A group has been vaccinated before starting 1B vaccinations. If, in a given situation, all readily available and willing 1A and 1B persons have been served, we urge you to pivot again and provide vaccine to any additional available and willing persons, regardless of their priority designation. Every shot administered matters.”
Herd immunity is the state’s goal.
“Herd immunity is where enough of the population is vaccinated that they just don’t freely transmit it to each other and it tends to die out,” Dr. John H. Krouse, dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine, said Tuesday.
“It is generally felt by public health experts that if we can get to a 75% vaccination rate that we will get to that concept.”
Low interest, even among those in the medical community, has slowed down the administration of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.
Soon, people will have a second option when over 20,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine begin arriving this week.
