Hospital administrators had to revise the algorithmically generated list before distribution began, but “management review and revision did not take place,” according to the note, due to a rapid change in the list and the amount of email and text messages sent back and forth between hospital administrators, overwhelmed.
“People are exhausted and frustrated by all that is 2020,” the internal note said. “The launch of the vaccination, all well-intentioned, hit the perfect storm.”
Many attending physicians, who surpass residents and peers, have entered the hospital’s initial list. In many cases, Dr. Frackman noted, their exposure is greater than that of their trainees. “Our participation has made an effort to try to protect us from some of the risk,” she said. “But in all honesty, there is too much Covid to protect us from risk.”
In a statement released Friday to hospital staff, Stanford Health Care directors David Entwistle, Paul King, Dr. Lloyd Minor, Dr. Niraj Sehgal and Dr. Dennis Lund acknowledged the “significant concerns” raised by the protests.
“We fully recognize that we should have acted faster to resolve the errors that led to an outcome we did not anticipate,” the statement said. “We recognize that the plan had significant gaps.”
Hospital directors also said they were “working quickly to fix the defects” in the plan and promised transparency during the change process.
In a statement, Lisa Kim, a spokeswoman for Stanford Health Care, echoed those sentiments. “We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, peers and other front-line caregivers, who have evolved heroically during our response to the pandemic,” the statement said. “We will immediately review our plan to better sequence the distribution of the vaccine.”