COVID vaccine roll out slowed by red tape, hospitals say. DHEC urged to make changes.
Frustrated by the speed at which coronavirus vaccines are being administered, executives from major South Carolina hospitals urged state health regulators Thursday to give them flexibility to inoculate people who want vaccines but can’t get the medicines under existing rules.
Rules and regulations are slowing down efforts to provide vaccinations, executives from Prisma Health, the Medical University of South Carolina, Tidelands Health and Lexington Medical Center told the Department of Health and Environmental Control board at its monthly meeting.
Some people the government put in the highest category for vaccinations are not taking advantage of the opportunity, said Patrick Cawley, vice president for health affairs at MUSC.
Hospital officials said DHEC should give them the freedom to treat people outside the highest priority category, particularly the elderly. Unless changes are made, people in the second highest category won’t be eligible for vaccinations until later this winter, according to DHEC plans..
“The last thing I want to do is have vaccines building up at MUSC,’’ Cawley told the board. “If all of a sudden I can’t get people to (sign) up, we should move on to the next group. You let hospitals and health systems make that decision, I think you will fulfill the original principal of getting more shots done quickly.’’
Cawley also took aim at a new federal vaccination reporting system that he indicated is among the obstacles slowing the response. The state already has its own system that would not take as much training to use, he said.
“Please remove as many regulations as possible,’’ Cawley said.
Thursday’s cries for support came from representatives of some of the state’s largest and most influential hospital systems. The four systems’ have patients in the Columbia, Greenville, Charleston and Myrtle Beach areas. Prisma and Lexington provide much of the hospital care in metropolitan Columbia.
DHEC officials said they are examining whether to expand vaccinations beyond the original plan.
Among those in the highest priority category for vaccinations — the 1A category — are frontline health care workers who deal with coronavirus patients. They were put high on the priority list because they are among those most at risk of getting coronavirus from patients they treat, and those workers need to stay healthy.
Under the system DHEC is using, people in the next highest category — known as 1B — include those over 75 years old. Others in Phase 1B include firefighters, law enforcement officers, corrections officers, agricultural employees, food workers, mail carriers, grocery store workers and teachers.
While plans are to provide those vaccinations by late winter, vaccinations for every state resident are not expected to be available until late spring, at the earliest.
A major complaint is about the perceived inflexibility of the vaccination roll out. DHEC’s plan keeps hospitals from administering vaccines outside the highest category — and that’s causing vaccines that could be used to sit idle, officials said.
Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, voiced frustration last week at the failure of health care workers to take advantage of their priority status and seek vaccinations. Other state lawmakers have joined the chorus of complaints, pushing for a more rapid vaccine response because the disease is killing South Carolinians. State Sen. Dick Harpootlian has been particularly critical of DHEC’s vaccine rollout.
The coronavirus has killed more than 5,000 South Carolina residents since it was first documented here in March. All told, more than 300,000 people have been infected. The disease outbreak, which is expected to continue to worsen this winter, is the worst in South Carolina in a century.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially set a goal of having 70 percent of 1A patients vaccinated before moving to phase 1B. But that guidance has changed. DHEC will evaluate demand for the vaccines up to Jan. 15 to see if people in the next phase for vaccinations should be scheduled for treatment sooner, the agency said this week.
Mark O’Halla, Prisma Health’s chief executive officer, said he sent out a message to Prisma employees letting them know they should get vaccinated by Jan. 15 or risk losing their priority status.
“This is a brand new vaccine, it was produced in record time,’’ O’Halla said. “A certain group of people is waiting to make sure it plays out the way everybody thought.’’
Tod Augsburger, the chief executive officer at Lexington Medical Center, said he has plenty of elderly patients who are ready to take vaccines, but can’t get them because health employees in the higher category haven’t gotten shots.
Lexington Medical Center has 150 slots for vaccinations “sitting empty because my employees haven’t chosen to go faster. We could vaccinate 75-year-olds tomorrow,’’ Augsburger said.
Augsburger said the number of COVID positive inpatients at Lexington Medical Center has risen from about 40 near Thanksgiving to 148 today. The average age of those patients is 68, he said. And of the 54 patients who have died from Covid 19 since Dec. 1, the average age is 76, he said.
“The sooner we can vaccinate our senior citizens, we can save lives,’’ he said, noting that “we’ve got to go faster. ‘’
About 350,000 South Carolinians fall into Phase 1A, which encompasses front line health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff. More than 800,000 are in Phase 1B.
At midweek, more than 57,000 people in Phase 1A had received initial doses of the vaccine and about 75,000 had scheduled an appointment.
Acting DHEC director Marshall Taylor said many people who have not signed up for vaccinations may not have had the opportunity.
“There may be a lot of pent up demand across the state that did not have an opportunity to make an appointment,’’ he said. “”We want to give everybody who qualifies under 1A an opportunity before we move to the next stage. I think we all would agree with that.’’
Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s acting health director, said the agency is working to provide flexibility in the administration of vaccines. She also noted that people in nursing homes and assisted living homes are being vaccinated through a federal pharmacy partnership.
“This vaccine is unlike any vaccine we’ve ever dealt with before,’’ Traxler said. “And so we must remain flexible in our response so that we can continue to respond to the global and local challenges.’’
DHEC has an advisory committee that is helping the agency prioritize how vaccines will be administered, said Linda Bell, the state’s epidemiologist. The committee includes a cross-section of interests, she told the board.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:41 PM.
