Both have been vaccinated, despite only one of them being eligible among the priority groups set out by Texas health officials.
‘I mostly sent them to get vaccinations to protect me and for the sake of our newborn baby ever since [my husband] tends to see more friends, ”said the 37-year-old woman, who asked for anonymity for fear of public retaliation.
Tensions over so-called ‘line talkers’ are high as Texas scrambles to vaccinate the majority of its 29 million residents, reduce deaths and hospitalizations and halt the spread of the virus among many vulnerable color communities. reports the Texas Tribune.
Current state guidelines require recipients to be 65 years of age or older, a health worker in the foreground, employed as a teacher or childminder or medically vulnerable, and older than 15. About 4.3 million people in Texas – or about 14% of the population state – received at least one dose. Between 10 and 13 million people are eligible for the vaccine under the Texas guidelines, said Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
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Anton said that if a provider has access to a recipient’s medical records, for example if the person is an existing patient, it can be used to verify a person’s medical fitness, but providers may not do so according to health guidelines. requires recipients to prove a medical condition.
She added that the state does not want to make it harder for people to get the chance by demanding that they bring medical records.
“We do not want to create barriers that prevent people from being vaccinated. Every person who is vaccinated slows down the spread of the disease and relieves the pressure on the hospital system,” Anton said.
While many providers believe that, based on anecdotal evidence and government data, they believe that most people who receive the vaccine are eligible, they acknowledge that it is difficult to be eligible and meet the requirements according to a person’s age. to apply when there are no medical records to check. Many qualifying conditions, such as diabetes or sickle cell disease, are not easily confirmed without it.
The result is that suppliers operate largely on the honor system. And from the setback over a senior Texas senator getting his vaccine before his age group qualifies for reports of young, seemingly healthy college students getting shoulders on campus with just over a student ID, anecdotal evidence shows that no not everyone follows it. .
“The ethical thing to do is to wait until it’s your turn, even though I know it’s frustrating for a lot of people,” said Allison Winnike, president and CEO of The Immunization Partnership. illnesses.
Officials say it is impossible to quantify the incidents and the impact of lineouts. The state also does not keep track of how many people are on vaccine waiting lists because Texas has more than 1,500 vaccination providers, each with a different system and some people are on multiple waiting lists at the same time.
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Anton said providers did not report that they had problems with unsuitable people exceeding the priority groups, but if a service provider did indicate that they wanted to do so as a practice, “we contact them immediately and explain that they not people to be vaccinated. outside the groups. ‘
Once Texas broadens the requirement for admission to more people and likely essential workers, which is expected later this month, the issue of giving shots to people who are not qualified will have less of an impact, Winnike said.
“If you continue to open it, there are more opportunities for line jumping, but less reason for it,” Winnike said. “At some point, it will be almost irrelevant.”
An ‘Ethical gray area’
Striking stories in Texas and across the country tell of the struggle between the qualified and the unqualified.
States like New York are struggling to vaccinate people of color, while white residents are queuing up at vaccination centers targeting colored communities. Reports of people crossing states and counties to be vaccinated have caused controversy in Florida. Social media is full of personal stories of people who either get the shot out of their turn, or that they complain angrily about people who seemingly are not eligible to get vaccines while prominent people sit on waiting lists.
Half of all Texans 65 and older received at least one dose, accounting for nearly 2 million people and nearly half of all doses administered in Texas, according to DSHS numbers. Elderly people, who make up about 13% of the Texas population, are likely to be hospitalized and will die from the virus.
In Austin, more than half a million meet the admission requirements, and about 200,000 are pre-registered by the Austin Public Health system and are still waiting, an APH spokesman said in an email. About 167,000 people received at least one dose at Travis County locations, according to state health officials.
Line jumping is an unfortunate reality for many suppliers, but ‘in general we try to bring about herd immunity and a shot in the arm is good for the whole community’, the spokesperson said.
“We want to prioritize our most vulnerable who suffer the most from the virus,” the spokesman added. “Instead of jumping the line, help a parent sign up for the vaccine.”
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Registration problems have occurred in several states, including Texas, which could bypass thousands of ineligible priority guidelines and register for appointments or turn up at major vaccination events to get a chance they have not yet been eligible for, according to reports.
At the University of Texas at Austin at the end of February, an online registration link for appointments by UT Health Austin was ‘inappropriately shared’ and this led people to mistakenly believe they qualified and enrolled for a shot, said officials. Officials later canceled most of the appointments.
“Everyone is fighting through the same flaws in the system,” says Jen Stratton, director of communications for Family Hospital Systems in Williamson County, who runs a vaccination center with the country. ‘I do not know of a single hub in this country that has had no problem at all with people getting links that they might not have had.
“There is no good answer,” Stratton added. “We try very hard to make sure the right people get it. [the vaccine] at the right time. And we understand the frustration, and we understand the perception. And we just ask for patience. ‘
Use each shot
Faced with the vaccination against a virus that has killed nearly 45,000 people in Texas over the past year, providers vary the cost of vaccinating some who are not qualified, with the benefit of vaccinating as many Texans as possible.
In some cases, shots are fired at ineligible people because suppliers do not want to waste doses of vaccines if suitable people cancel or miss their appointments, or because not enough people are eligible during a vaccination drive. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be used within a certain period of time after the seal has been broken.
If this happens, providers should choose between vaccinating someone who is not in a priority group, or throwing away a precious dose of COVID-19 vaccine, which already has a deficiency. Most recommendations from state and national health officials seem to follow the line of scrutiny to those outside the fitness guidelines, as it prevents doses from being wasted – even if providers are criticized for vaccinating people outside the fitness guideline.
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“This is the ultimate Catch-22,” Stratton said.
The 37-year-old Austin mother, who feared for her newborn if she or the baby were to receive COVID-19, acknowledged that the family’s decision to vaccinate her healthy young husband was “an ethical gray area” affecting family members. or the public if they shared it on social media.
“But here’s what I know now,” she said. ‘I know when I get sick, he [my husband] or my mother can take care of my baby in the same household … I do not feel good about the decision. But I was like: I’m going to get it right anyway because your maternal instincts kick in and you’re just like, ‘No, I’ll do anything to protect my baby.’
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin was a financial backer of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-party news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of these.
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