Minnesota hospitals say the state’s vaccine distribution is at an ‘unsustainable crossroads’

Updated at 20:35

A coalition of Minnesota hospitals says the state’s COVID-19 vaccine delivery system is hurting patients and is asking the state’s Department of Health to give more vaccines to healthcare professionals.

In a letter to health commissioner Jan Malcolm, the Minnesota Hospital Association wrote that some clinics have not been receiving doses for days, which prevents them from vaccinating their older and vulnerable patients.

“Despite our continued partnership and our tireless efforts to work together with the state, we believe that the vaccine allocation process has reached an unsustainable crossroads,” wrote the association’s president, Dr. Rahul Koranne. “The lottery system is hurting patients and communities and allocations to healthcare providers are expected to increase.”

The letter from the hospital association marks a notable divide in the partnership between the state and hospitals to vaccinate Minnesotans.

In the initial implementation of the state, hospitals served as vaccine distribution centers, giving the vast majority of doses to be given to employees and, more recently, to people in private practice, such as dentists and doctors not affiliated with a hospital system.

In January, the state opened vaccinations for people aged 65 and over, although most Minnesota hospitals focused primarily on older patients, leaving many people aged 65 to 75 to rely solely on the state’s vaccination sites for the vaccines. These appointments are guaranteed through a state-established lottery system.

Meanwhile, the demand for vaccines far exceeds supply. Each week, the state is responsible for determining where vaccines should go and how many health systems or local public health departments should receive them.

“My members are increasingly in the impossible position to tell their patients and their communities that they do not have vaccines for them,” wrote Koranne. “We have members who haven’t had a vaccine for three weeks, leaving the clinical infrastructure in place to get vaccines quickly.”

In a statement, Malcolm said that MDH notified the hospital’s association in an email on Friday that there would be changes to a “random process” for small and medium-sized providers.

“Starting with vaccines arriving in the week of February 15, we will transition to a process where the eight regional health coalitions will work with providers in their regions to target COVID-19 vaccine allocations based on the provider’s capacity , community needs and state priorities, ”Malcolm said. “With this new process, these groups will be responsible for guiding the MDH on which specific locations in their region should receive vaccines and where to send them.”

Despite state guidance that health care providers at high risk of contracting the virus and people living and working in long-term care should receive vaccines first, some Minnesota hospitals have administered vaccines to employees at low risk of contracting COVID- 19 in service – teleworkers and employees without contact with the patient – a practice that has been evaluated by the State Department of Health.

Koranne said hospitals and clinics have been preparing to give vaccines for months and that their storage and vaccination capacity has been idle because the state has moved doses to major vaccination centers, where people must win a spot in the draw to be vaccinated.

This weekend, the state is administering about 9,000 doses in one location in Minneapolis and plans to distribute vaccines in Duluth, Minnesota and southern Minnesota soon.

Koranne said these places are out of reach for people who live in the western part of the state or who are in rural areas, and wants the state to rethink the lottery.

“Maximizing existing infrastructure and the role of clinics, hospitals and health systems in vaccination allows vulnerable populations, including Minnesota elderly and disabled people, to receive their vaccines at their local clinics, where they receive regular care,” he said.