Medical residents flooded Stanford Hospital on Friday in protest after directors there it’s said used a flawed algorithm to sort out its first wave of vaccinations and overwhelmingly left caregivers working on the front lines of the covid-19 pandemic.
Of Stanford Medicine’s approximately 1,300 residents, only seven were selected to be among the first 5,000 employees to receive the new Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, ProPublica reports. A letter to hospital directors that was signed by residents and reviewed by Ars Technica claimed that senior doctors and senior faculties who have worked remotely since March made the list, while only 0.5% of residents were selected for vaccination. And just to add insult to injury, the decision came in the same week that residents were asked to volunteer for shifts in the Intensive Care Unit – where they would probably work closely with covid-19 patients – like the hospital. for an anticipated increase in the number of cases, apparently due to the holiday season.
In a ProPublica interview, Sarah Johnson, an OB-GYN resident who gave birth to children from covid-19 patients, called this the “final straw” for hospital staff who already feel exhausted and overlooked after risking usually exposure during an international health crisis.
“Residents face patience, we are the ones who have been asked to intubate, however some presences that have given us in front of the house are vaccinated before us,” she told the press. “This is the last straw that says, ‘We don’t really care about you. ‘ “
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Residents called on Stanford executives to “vaccinate the front line,” while protests erupted inside and outside the hospital on Friday. Dozens of signs branded with messages such as “First in the room. Back of the line ”and“ #Healthcare hero. Support is zero. “
Stanford came up with an algorithm to choose “ethically” which of its employees it would be the first to be vaccinated, but the design flaws apparently put residents at a disadvantage from the start. Medical school graduates are usually required to complete some form of residency program before they can obtain a medical license when working under the supervision of other physicians. Because the position is temporary, residents do not have a “location” assigned to the “computational connection” that determines who would be first in line for the vaccine, a senior resident explained in an email to colleagues. And they tend to be younger, he added, which also made them less likely to make the cut, probably because older people have a higher risk to develop severe complications from the virus.
Stanford Medicine directors have since admitted to cheating:
“We take full responsibility for the errors in the execution of our vaccine distribution plan,” reads a press release. e-mailed statement to Gizmodo. “Our intention was to launch an ethical and fair plan for the entire organization and there were flaws in that plan that we are actively trying to fix. ”
Into the an email to staff reviewed by Pr, Stanford executives and deans apologized and said they had discovered “significant gaps” in developing a vaccine distribution plan. They went on to say that they are working to correct the plan and anticipate the possibility of vaccinating “a substantial segment of our community”, we hope, as soon as possible next week, with the arrival of a larger transport of vaccines.
Residents are also asking for nurses, therapists, caregivers, food service workers and other key employees that the algorithm would have overlooked to be included among those considered for the first round of vaccinations, NBC reports. And, ideally, he would like a seat at the table while the hospital reviews its plan.
I can’t even imagine the frustration these residents have to feel, risking their health and safety every day, only to be shattered when relief is finally seen. And not to diminish their fight, but the fact that their age puts them at a disadvantage to receive the vaccine way too close to home for me as someone who has been immunocompromised for virtually their entire adult life. Hopefully Stanford can do this soon, as this pandemic has been going on for almost a year and frontline workers have earned more than the right to cross the line.
Updated: 18.12.2020, 21:16 ET: Added Stanford Medicine statement.