One thing is clear: the older you are, the more likely COVID-19 is to kill you.
We agree with Gov. Jared Polis, the state’s coronavirus vaccine task force and the Centers for Disease Control that with the precious first doses of the vaccine, the top priority should be those who live and work in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. The virus has been tearing through these facilities. According to an analysis by The New York Times, 39% of the deaths across America have come from these facilities.
Vaccinating older Coloradans living in congregate housing will save lives. Vaccinating those who work in these facilities will help prevent the virus from being brought through the front doors. Both steps will drastically reduce the burden on our health care facilities, which are strained right now with more than 1,600 Coloradans in the hospital with severe symptoms as of Thursday. Some of the very first vaccines will also go to those working on a daily basis with COVID-19 patients, including the janitors, technicians, nurses and doctors in COVID units.
It’ll be the public health leaders at hospitals and nursing homes deciding which patients, doctors, and employees get the first doses, and subsequently, the second dose needed about 21 days later for the Pfizer vaccine to reach the almost 95% efficacy observed in trials.
Polis emphasized in a meeting last week with The Post editorial board that while the priorities are important, it’s also critical that not a single vaccine dose goes to waste. Polis said health officials are being instructed that getting the vaccine into an arm is far better than letting it expire while worrying about whether it’s the right arm.
While now it’s the heads of hospitals and care facilities making decisions about who gets the vaccine, possibly as early as this spring, it’ll be doctors and pharmacists across the state making that determination. Those health care professionals are going to need clear guidance on how to manage the doses. Should a 21-year-old asking for a vaccine at a pharmacy be given the shot or should his or her underlying health condition be confirmed first? How are we going to ensure that Americans who don’t have access to a care provider — especially those who are front-line workers at the post office or grocery store — have the same chance to get the vaccine as someone who has been seeing the same doctor for years.
While we generally agree with the plan that has been outlined for distribution, more detail will be needed this spring when a much broader segment of the population begins to have access to the vaccine.
The question of whether incarcerated or jailed individuals should get the vaccine before the general population appears to have been solved by removing that group from the list and allowing those individuals to be vaccinated after front-line workers and then based on each individual’s risk factor, rather than setting the population aside for special treatment. We agree with this approach. Healthy 21-year-olds in jail pending trial should not get the vaccine before an at-risk senior citizen whether he or she is in prison or not. And a healthy 21-year-old living in a college dorm should not get the vaccine before a 65-year-old in prison.
If we are fortunate, the production of the vaccine will outstrip need and these complicated ethical questions of who should get the vaccine first will become easier this summer. However, that is not likely given the global demand for these vaccines. Time spent now providing guidance to doctors and pharmacists about distribution and working hard to reach underserved populations will pay off with lives saved.
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