ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Co-leader of Mayo’s vaccine distribution program, Dr. Abinash Virk says that Mayo has the capacity to vaccinate up to 50,000 people a week.
However, the number of doses administered each week is much less than that, who receives it first is based on who is most at risk.
Admitting that some Mayo telehealth workers may have been vaccinated by accident, Virk says it was not done intentionally and can be explained by other factors.
“The state’s orientation is changing, evolving and rotating regularly,” said Virk. “At the moment, I think it all depends on the vaccine supply.”
Mayo says he has prioritized based on the highest risk since the beginning. This includes in December, when the vaccine was first available.
“Whether they were in the ICU, on the medical floor, in the lab workers, in the janitors who were cleaning the room, and in anyone who came into contact with the COVID-19 patients,” said Virk.
Many in the community pointed to examples of Mayo workers who did not come to campus to get vaccines before non-Mayo health care providers.
An anonymous tip to the KTTC: “I personally know two people who received the vaccine who, although they work for Mayo, have no contact with the patient. These people are neither frontline nor essential employees. They clearly fall into Phase 3. “
The KTTC whistleblower line is full of people who wish to remain anonymous, all claiming the same thing.
“It is possible that some people have been classified as patient-oriented or on campus, when they may not have been,” said Virk. “Unfortunately, this process was not perfect.”
In general, Virk is blaming any disorderly vaccinations of the team on the confusion and rapid pace of vaccine release. She also says that Mayo has not received guidance from the state to vaccinate health workers outside of Mayo’s operation. But now, they are willing to share.
“For our own health care professionals, when we receive more vaccines, we will continue to vaccinate them, but we will allocate some of these doses to members of the community,” said Virk. “We are very happy that they come and get vaccinated this week.”
Although state guidance advises vaccinating anyone over 65 years of age, a new pilot program in Mayo beginning this week restricts that.
“The guidance we received was for the 80 years old who live in the municipalities we serve”, explains Virk.
She says that all of these appointments are scheduled for the first week. Mayo hopes to vaccinate about 1,800 people over 80 this week.
Mayo does not know how much vaccine will be distributed next week, but he expects to finish all 6,000 of his patients over 80, as well as non-Mayo patients in the same age group in the coming weeks.