Across New York State, medical providers have told the same story in the past few weeks: they were forced to discard precious doses of vaccine due to the difficulty of finding patients who met precisely the state’s strict vaccination guidelines – and heavy penalties that they would face if they made a mistake.
On Saturday, state health officials responded to the clamor about vaccines discarded abruptly by abruptly loosening guidelines as coronavirus cases continued to rise.
Now, medical service providers can administer the vaccine to any of their employees who interact with the public if there are extra doses in a bottle and no one in the “priority population can enter before the doses expire,” says the new guide. A pharmacy’s “clerks, cashiers, inventory staff and delivery staff” may be qualified, the guidelines say. Last week, California took a similar step.
This is the second time in two days that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s government has eased restrictions on who can be vaccinated in New York State. On Friday, the governor announced that medical service providers would be able to vaccinate a wider range of essential workers and New Yorkers aged 75 or older starting on Monday.
The new and more compliant guidelines highlight the difficulties that the state had in balancing the need to vaccinate vulnerable populations quickly with the imperative to prevent fraud and favoritism in the vaccine distribution process.
Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess county executive, north of New York City, and a critic of the governor’s vaccine distribution effort, said the new rules are “a smart move”.
“They are slowly unraveling a tangled mess,” he said.
A spokesman for the state health department said the new guidelines are the culmination of a weeks-long process.
“This guidance establishes and clarifies what we have discussed with hospitals for weeks on how to maximize their doses to ensure that no vaccines are wasted,” said spokesman Gary C. Holmes. “We don’t want any confusion and we want to make sure that everyone understands the procedures.”
Neil Calman, who runs a vaccine clinic as head of the Family Health Institute and had to discard unused vaccine doses, welcomed the change in the rule, as well as another change he said allows registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to administer the vaccine.
But he argued for a further loosening of the rules to allow vaccinations of patients at risk for diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease, under the age of 75.
“We are seeing them in our office and it seems that we reject them today just so we can call back in a week and say, ‘Now you can get your vaccine,'” said Calman.
The new guidelines address the challenges of running a mass vaccination program in a country whose health care system includes public and private hospitals, pharmacy chains and clinics.
Mark Levine, chairman of the New York City Council health committee, annotated on Twitter that vaccine booking sites include one for the city’s public hospital system, another for the municipality’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and another for Costco.
“For community clinics, 7 have their own different websites, 4 require a connection and 1 is by email,” he added.
He called for a unified scheduling system for the whole of New York City.
New York City was expected to launch a new website on Sunday to address these concerns.