Eligible SC health workers urged to schedule COVID vaccination or lose priority status
In a reversal of policy, South Carolina health officials said Wednesday that all eligible health care workers who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccination, but want one, should contact hospitals as soon as possible to schedule an appointment for their first dose.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control, which previously had advised individuals included in the state’s first vaccination phase to avoid reaching out to hospitals and wait to be contacted, changed course this week after Gov. Henry McMaster expressed frustration at the pace of the vaccine rollout and said he would remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks that were slowing the process.
McMaster said Tuesday the state would impose a Jan. 15 deadline for Phase 1a individuals to either get vaccinated or schedule a vaccination appointment, or risk losing their priority vaccination status.
“It’s like boarding an airplane,” the governor said. “When they call your rows, if you don’t get on the plane, you go to the back of the line.”
Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s interim public health director, said Wednesday that Phase 1a individuals or their employers should contact a health care provider to schedule an appointment for vaccination by the deadline to retain priority status.
About 350,000 South Carolinians fall into Phase 1a, which encompasses front line health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff.
As of Wednesday, more than 52,000 Phase 1a individuals had received their initial doses and another 70,000 had scheduled an appointment, Traxler said.
Those numbers do not include long-term care facility residents and staff, who are being inoculated as part of a federal pharmacy program. Information on how many of those individuals have been vaccinated has not been made available.
DHEC Wednesday also updated the categories of health care workers included in Phase 1a to clear up any confusion about vaccine eligibility status.
Traxler said the list is not all-inclusive and could be further amended at the request of the state’s vaccine advisory committee, but that DHEC had broadened and clarified it by naming specific health professions that comprise Phase 1a rather than relying on broader categories.
To schedule an appointment, employers of Phase 1a individuals should contact hospitals and provide them a list of the names and email addresses of employees who want a vaccine. Phase 1a individuals may also contact hospitals directly.
Residents of rural areas without a hospital in their county are asked to contact the hospital nearest to them.
People scheduling vaccination appointments may be asked to present credentials to verify their Phase 1a eligibility, such as a work badge, business card, license or personalized letter from an employer, Traxler said.
DHEC will decide whether or not to extend Phase 1a vaccinations or move on to Phase 1b, which includes anyone 75 and older and “frontline essential workers” like firefighters, police officers and teachers, after the Jan. 15 deadline, she said.
DHEC previously said it would transition to Phase 1b after 70% of Phase 1a individuals had been vaccinated, but revised that criteria after consulting with the governor’s office.
“Over this past weekend, that guidance evolved to now suggest several variables to take into consideration for when to transition (to Phase 1b), with an overarching theme of basically supply exceeding demand,” Traxler said.
There is not presently a process for non-Phase 1a individuals to schedule a vaccination, but DHEC is in the process of figuring out how that will work.
“As we get closer to Phase 1b, we will be providing more information about the different options for how to arrange to get your vaccine as well as specifically where to go to get your vaccine,” Traxler said.
DHEC is currently projecting that Phase 1b will begin some time in February.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 4:44 PM.