Both have been vaccinated, despite the fact that only one of them is eligible in the priority groups highlighted by Texas health officials.
“Most of the time I sent them to receive vaccines to protect me for the sake of our newborn. [my husband] he tends to see more friends, “said the 37-year-old, who asked for anonymity for fear of public retribution.
Tensions over so-called “line breaks” are high as Texas struggles to vaccinate the majority of its 29 million inhabitants, reduce deaths and hospitalizations, and stop the virus from spreading to highly vulnerable communities of color, Texas Tribune reports.
The current guidelines require beneficiaries to be 65 years of age or older, to be a front-line health worker, employed as a teacher or childcare worker, or medically vulnerable and older than 15 years. About 4.3 million people in Texas – or about 14% of the state’s population – have taken at least one dose. Between 10 and 13 million people are eligible for the vaccine according to Texas guidelines, said Lara Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Health Services.
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Anton said that if a provider has access to the recipient’s medical records – for example if the person is an existing patient – they can be used to check a person’s medical eligibility, but providers are not allowed, according to the guidelines. state health, to ask the beneficiaries to prove a medical condition.
She added that the state does not want to make it more difficult for people to get shot, asking them to bring medical records.
“We do not want to create barriers that prevent people from getting vaccinated, and 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 say that based on anecdotal evidence and state data, most people receiving the vaccine are eligible, they acknowledge that it is difficult to confirm eligibility and impose requirements beyond a person’s age when there are no medical records of verified. Many qualifying conditions, such as diabetes or sickle cell disease, are not easily confirmed without them.
The result is that suppliers operate largely on the honor system. And because of the reaction to an older Texas state senator who was getting his vaccine before his age group became eligible for reports on seemingly healthy young students lining up to get shots on campus with a little more. more than a student ID, anecdotal evidence shows that not everyone follows him.
“The ethical thing to do is wait your turn, even though I know it’s frustrating for a lot of people,” said Allison Winnike, president and CEO of The Immunization Partnership, a nationwide nonprofit focused on eradicating vaccine prevention. . boli.
Quantifying incidents and the impact of line jumps is impossible, officials say. The state also does not keep track of the number of people on vaccine waiting lists, as Texas has more than 1,500 vaccine providers, each has a different system, and some people are on multiple waiting lists simultaneously.
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Anton said providers have not reported problems with ineligible people exceeding priority groups, but if a provider indicates it intends to do so as a matter of practice, “we contact them immediately and explain that they should not vaccinate people outside those groups. “
As Texas expands eligibility requirements to include more people and likely key workers, a move expected later this month, the issue of giving photos to unskilled people will have less of an impact, Winnike said.
“As you continue to open it, there are more opportunities for line jumping, but there are fewer reasons to do so,” Winnike said. “At some point it will be almost irrelevant.”
A “gray ethical area”
Captivating stories from Texas and across the country tell the story of the battle between the skilled and the unskilled.
States like New York are struggling to vaccinate people of color, while white residents are lining up at vaccination centers for communities of color. Reports of people crossing state and county lines to be vaccinated have triggered cuts in Florida. Social networks are full of personal stories about people who either get out of their ranks or angrily complain about seemingly ineligible people receiving vaccines while priority people sit on waiting lists.
Half of all Texans aged 65 and over have received at least one dose, which is nearly 2 million people and nearly half of all doses given in Texas, according to DSHS figures. The elderly, who make up about 13% of Texas’ population, are most likely to be hospitalized and die from the virus.
In Austin, more than half a million people meet eligibility requirements and about 200,000 are pre-registered through the Austin public health system and are still waiting, an APH spokesman said in an emailed statement. About 167,000 people received at least one dose at Travis County locations, according to state health officials.
The jump on the line is “an unfortunate reality for many suppliers”, but “in general, we are trying to get the herd immunity and a blow to one arm is good for the whole community,” the spokesman said.
“We want to give priority to the most vulnerable who can suffer the most from the virus,” he said. “Instead of jumping in line, help a senior sign up for the vaccine.”
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There have been registration errors in several states, including Texas, which have allowed thousands of ineligible people to bypass priority guidelines and register for meetings or attend large vaccination events to get a photo for which they did not they were still eligible, according to reports.
At the University of Texas at Austin in late February, an online registration link for appointments through UT Health Austin was “improperly shared” and led to people mistakenly believing that they had qualified and qualified. signed up for a shooting, officials said. Subsequently, officials canceled most of these appointments.
“Everyone is struggling with the same system bugs,” said Jen Stratton, communications director for Family Hospital Systems in Williamson County, which is working with the county to run a vaccination center. “I don’t know of a single hub in this country that has no problems with people receiving connections that it may not have.
“There is no right answer,” Stratton added. “We try so hard to make sure the right people get it [the vaccine] at the right moment. And we understand frustration and we understand perception. And we just ask for patience. “
Using each shot
Faced with an attempt to vaccinate against a virus that has killed nearly 45,000 people in Texas in the past year, providers are juggling the cost of vaccinating some who are not qualified against the benefit of vaccinating as many Texans as possible.
In some cases, the shots are given to ineligible people because providers do not want to waste vaccine doses when eligible people cancel or lose their appointments or because there are not enough eligible people during a vaccination action. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be used within a certain period of time after their seal is broken.
When this happens, providers have to choose between vaccinating someone who is not in a priority group or throwing away a valuable dose of COVID-19 vaccine, which is already in small quantities. Most appear to follow the recommendations of state and national health officials to administer shots to those who are not guided for eligibility, if it prevents the wastage of doses – even if providers face criticism for vaccinating people outside the eligibility guidelines.
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“It’s the last Catch-22,” Stratton said.
Austin’s 37-year-old mother, who feared for the newborn if she or the baby had caught COVID-19, acknowledged that the family’s decision to vaccinate her healthy young husband is “an ethical gray area” that would could cause adverse reactions from family members or the public if they shared it on social networks.
“But here’s what I know now,” she said. “I know I’m getting sick [my husband] or my mother could take care of my child from the same household … I didn’t feel great about the decision. But I was like, I will succeed anyway because your motherly instincts come in and you are the same, “No, I will do anything to protect my child.” “
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