People aged 55 to 64 with certain medical conditions are now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations at pharmacies in Nevada, without proof of medical status.
The state was eligible this week for those in this age group with conditions ranging from cancer to smoking that put them at higher risk for serious diseases due to COVID-19, a state vaccination official confirmed Monday.
Fitness has also been extended to those with conditions that only put them at higher risk, such as asthma or dementia, as well as the disabled or who are homeless.
People will be asked during a screening to “testify” that they have a condition that they are eligible for, but do not have to document, state official Candice McDaniel said in a media conference.
“I think it’s important to really promote that we’re still in a place where we have a limited amount of vaccine, and that we need to reach those who are at higher risk for infection,” said McDaniel, an office manager. at the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. “So I really hope people testify of what they really have.”
It would be a burden on the healthcare system and a logistical nightmare to require anyone with an underlying medical condition to prove it, said Johan Bester, director of bioethics and an assistant professor at the UNLV School of Medicine, said.
“It seems like it’s the least of two evils to let people just tell the truth and the few who abuse the system will abuse the system,” he said.
Eligible conditions
A technical bulletin issued by the state on March 3 lists the conditions that, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals are at higher risk for COVID-19. These include cancer; chronic kidney disease; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic lung diseases; Down syndrome; heart disease, including high blood pressure; immuno-compromise of organ transplantation; obesity; pregnancy; sickle cell disease; Type 2 diabetes; and smoke.
The bulletin issued to healthcare providers and pharmacies also contains a list of conditions that could put an individual at greater risk. These include moderate to severe asthma; cerebrovascular disease; immune storage through a blood or bone marrow transplant, HIV or the use of immunosuppressive drugs; neurological conditions such as dementia; liver disease; overweight; the blood disorder thalassemia; and type 1 diabetes.
“Due to HIPAA privacy considerations, public vaccine providers will not need medical evidence to administer a COVID-19 vaccine,” said Shannon Litz, a representative of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. said an email. “Nevadans are asked to plan their appointments when they are eligible, and not ‘jump the loop’, to make sure we all work together to those at greater risk of getting serious illnesses or to COVID-19 to die, to enable them to get their vaccinations first. ”
But medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said an honorary system would not work.
“People who will lie desperately,” Caplan, founder of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU School of Medicine, said in an email. “People do not even know if they have a suitable condition.”
For these reasons, Caplan at this stage favors age-group vaccination, a system he described as simpler and more enforceable.
Bester sees a move to reduce vaccine barriers.
“The emphasis at present does not seem to be so much on trying to keep people out, but on encouraging more and more people to come for vaccination,” he said, suggesting that vaccine has become more available.
According to data from the CDC, the weekly allotment of vaccine has risen to about 70,000 first doses, up from 47,000 a month ago.
The state estimates there are about 290,000 people in Nevada, 55 to 64 with underlying conditions, about three-quarters of them in Clark County, Litz said. However, not everyone chooses to be vaccinated.
Since the appointment of vaccines in Clark County was incomplete last week, the qualification in the province has been extended to tens of thousands of hospitality workers, including casino workers, as well as those in the food service industry.
Vaccinations can be made at local pharmacies for 55 to 64 years with underlying health conditions. Immunize Nevada’s website nvcovidfighter.org provides the following links to schedule appointments with a pharmacy:
Albertson’s: https://www.albertsons.com/pharmacy/covid-19.html
CVS: https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid-19-vaccine?icid=cvs-home-hero1-link2-coronavirus-vaccine
Smith’s: https://www.smithsfoodanddrug.com/rx/covid-eligibility
Vons: https://www.vons.com/pharmacy/covid-19.html
Walgreens: www.walgreens.com/schedulevaccine
Walmart / Sam’s Club: https://www.walmart.com/cp/1228302
Contact Mary Hynes by [email protected]. Follow @ MaryHynes1 on Twitter. The author of the Review-Journal staff, Michael Scott Davidson, contributed to this report.