The additional COVID-19 vaccines from Texas Hospital went to other front-line workers

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While he wasn’t scheduled to get one of the first quarter of a million COVID-19 vaccines distributed in Texas, Rio Grande Valley pharmacist Danny Vela thought he’d queue ahead of most. simply because of what he does.

Then on Saturday he received a call from someone he knows at Renaissance Doctors Hospital in Edinburgh, one of the facilities in Texas most affected by the virus this year. Vela is not a hospital employee, but he was told vaccine doses were available if he wanted one.

The reason: The hospital ended up getting more vaccines than employees who wanted one, DHR Health’s medical director told the Texas Tribune on Sunday. The lower than expected rate of vaccine adoption was first reported by The Monitor.

So Vela, a pharmacist and co-owner of Lee’s Pharmacy in the Valley, and his daughter, a Lee’s pharmacy technician, went to the conference center across the street from the hospital, where a major vaccination operation was underway in the lobby. Two hours later, both father and daughter had been dosed.

Vela felt “happy and relieved,” he said.

Hospitals across Texas have begun to receive the first batches of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in recent days. State guidelines say these first batches should go to primary care health workers. But how the actual distribution works can look different from facility to facility as each interprets those state recommendations.

It will be months before vaccines are widely available to most Texans, whose state currently sets records for the number of people who test positive for the coronavirus. Health officials have said people should continue to wear masks, wash their hands often, and practice social distance. They also say vaccinated people can still carry and spread the virus.

Dr. Robert Martinez, DHR Health’s Chief Medical Officer, said his hospital received 5,850 doses of the vaccine, the same amount as Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, although the hospital in Houston has a workforce nearly three times its size. from the Valley facility.

Martinez said DHR Health officials prioritized employees considered in the first tier for a dose, such as hospital staff working directly with COVID-19 patients and long-term care workers. But administrators realized that not enough people who qualified for the vaccine would initially choose to get it, Martinez said.

“You’re starting to see similar numbers across the country, all this mistrust and misinformation,” he said.

Initially, about 40 to 60% of people who answered a hospital survey said they would get the vaccine, Martinez said.

The predominantly Spanish region consists of the counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 68,000 people in the area have been tested positive for the coronavirus.

DHR Health did not want to waste the vaccine doses. After the first day of distribution, the hospital “started to descend the wrung-out … a little bit,” Martinez said. Hospital workers called health workers at other medical facilities – such as hospitals, nursing homes, health facilities and anyone with workers on the front lines of COVID-19 – in neighboring towns and counties in the Valley.

“The more the better here as far as I’m concerned,” said Martinez, emphasizing “it wasn’t free for everyone.” He said he and other staff members told medical workers if they could bring family members not to do this.

No one showing up for one of these doses had to prove they were doing it, Martinez said, but many were known to the people who distributed the vaccine. Vela said the workers recognized him, but they asked his daughter where she worked and her profession.

“I had no reason to think that anyone other than health workers was in line,” said Vela.

A photojournalist working for the Texas Tribune photographed several people in Edinburgh on Saturday queuing for or receiving the vaccines. Only one person was Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. of the state. Lawmakers are not eligible for the vaccine in this first round unless they are a health worker, said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Lucio Jr., whose district includes the southeastern part of the valley, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday evening.

The photojournalist also spoke to a man who identified himself as a deputy to a Hidalgo County sheriff. Law enforcement officers are not included in the DSHS first tier of people scheduled to receive the vaccine.

A spokesman for the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s office did not answer a call for comment. Martinez said he was unaware of any specifics, but law enforcement sometimes assist hospital personnel.

Van Deusen said in an email that vaccine providers should “follow the priorities set by the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel and DSHS.” In this first phase of distribution, “The priority is to vaccinate residents of long-term care facilities and primary care workers who interact directly with patients.”

The vaccine is not exclusively reserved for employees of a vaccine supplier, writes Van Deusen. “We encourage health care providers … to contact other health professionals in their community to help them get vaccinated.”

Van Deusen said DSHS will follow up if concerns are raised about who is getting a vaccine, to make sure that “everyone understands the priorities and obligations in this regard.”

In Houston, Texas Children’s Hospital distributed the entire first batch of vaccines to its own staff. A hospital working group developed its own “fair allocation framework” to determine who was eligible for those initial doses. That framework took into account not only whether someone was a doctor or a nurse, for example, but also whether they were at higher risk of death and “ the impact on the hospital’s ability to care for patients, ” said Jenn Jacome, Texas Children’s Public relationship director.

“At Texas Children’s, we are committed to the well-being of every healthcare hero,” said Jacome. “To keep the hospital open, there are a number of team members, yes of course, those who provide direct patient care, but others we need and who are critical to keeping the hospital running. “

This could mean, for example, that an IT worker is responsible for keeping the hospital’s computer system operational, although she could not confirm whether IT workers were receiving the first doses. The second person to receive the vaccine was a prison worker – Texas Children’s calls them environmental service workers – who the state considers a high priority for the vaccine when working in areas with COVID-19 positive patients or at high risk for the virus.

Texas Children’s emailed all staff this week, giving them the opportunity to sign up for the vaccine. Those vaccinated in the first stage “both signed up and were considered the highest risk under our fair allocation framework,” Jacome said in an email. She said Texas Children’s had finished the first phase of vaccine distribution Saturday night.

DHR Health dispensed its final dose on Sunday afternoon, Martinez said. His priority, with every new shipment of vaccines, will be to offer it to every frontline, DHR Health medical provider who didn’t get it the first time. But he won’t wait too long before moving on to the next person in line.

“Every day I keep that vaccine in a freezer, another person, or a few more people, dies,” he said.

A DHR Health employee named Omar, who asked The Tribune not to use his full name to protect personal medical information, received his dose the previous morning. He works as a medical secretary and documents electronic medical records for physicians in the emergency room at Starr County Memorial Hospital, about 50 miles from the DHR Health campus (DHR is his primary employer).

Omar, 23, was excited to get the vaccine, although he said some of his own family members were wary of it.

“I trust science,” he said.

Jason Garza contributed to this story.

Disclosure: DHR Health is a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, unbiased news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no part in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a full list here.