CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – During a weekly webinar on Friday, several county officials shared their frustration with the Iowa Department of Public Health for receiving little or no warning about the changes announced on Thursday, which open the vaccine eligibility for people 64 and under with a medical condition that the CDC has identified as possibly causing serious COVID-19 disease.
An email received by the KCRG-TV9 i9 Investigation Unit shows that the Iowa Department of Public Health alerted only county health departments that it was expanding eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccinations 8 minutes before the announcement was made .
During the webinar, the state health department said it expects the recently announced move to add about 1 million people who are eligible to receive a vaccine. The department will not give priority to people with certain illnesses, although individual counties may do so. The state also plans to rely on people who sincerely attest to their medical condition or smoking history. He will also vaccinate this new group at the same time that he will vaccinate the levels established in January.
The department said it made the decision after nearly 12 counties said they had completed vaccinating their population aged 65 and over.
Kelly Garcia, who is the acting director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the move was made to ensure that open positions were filled.
“I know that not all counties will be in the same space and the movement to open things really revolves around the idea that a small number of local pharmacy partners and public health agencies have open consultations,” she said. “And it has been our goal, our collective goal since the beginning, to fill the largest number of nominations and fire weapons as quickly as possible.”
The new guidelines take effect on Monday, March 8. Each county has the flexibility to start vaccinating people under the age of 65 with a medical condition.
The department also indicated that it was looking for state-run vaccination clinics and does not expect any changes to be made in the governor’s next emergency proclamation.
He also said that the Infectious Diseases Advisory Council, which is advising Iowa on which populations to vaccinate, has no plans to meet again in the future.
Communication Problems
Christy Roby Williams, who is the director of public health for Muscatine County, said that advance notice would give her more time to prepare her department.
“I would respectfully request that the Iowa government consider communicating with state and local public health departments when the phases are going to change (before the change),” she said in the chat feature on the call. “So that we can better prepare our communications, call centers, employees and provide a quick response to the community.”
Many others in the call agreed with that sentiment, including Becky Wolf. Wolf is the chief health officer for Greene County.
“Notifying 10 minutes in advance before releasing for printing creates HUGE problems locally, especially on Friday! We deserve better. We appreciate everything you do for us in these impossible times. “
Tim Richmond, who is the Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator in Wapello County, said this has been a repeated complaint from local health agencies.
“Residents must be notified in advance of significant changes so that we can manage local messages, he said. ”Failure to do so pits local residents against statistical partners unnecessarily. I don’t think this is done on purpose, but it has been a repeated complaint throughout this pandemic. “
Ken Sharp, chairman of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Board. acknowledged that local public health departments had few warnings about the changes.
“We listen to you and we always listen to you,” he said. “And we recognize that everything is very compressed and continues to be so. We are doing everything we can to try to make the most of it in advance. And we recognize that we just haven’t been able to get to the point where the multi-day warning is not something we were able to do. “
After Sharp responded, two different public health officials said they only wanted a warning longer than ten minutes.
Redistributing vaccine doses to counties that have not finished vaccinating people aged 65 and over
During the transition from Phase 1A to 1B, IDPH required that everyone in one phase across Iowa state receive a vaccine before any county could start vaccinating people in the next group. This is no longer the case, and several county health departments have asked the state to redistribute vaccine doses to counties that have not finished vaccinating people over 65.
Ken Sharp said that about 12 counties said they had completed the vaccination of people aged 65 and over. Dana Cockrell, who is an assistant administrator in the Monroe County Department of Health, asked why these counties cannot have their doses suspended.
“If the minority of the municipalities met your need, can’t your shipments be on hold?”, She asked in the chat. “We were just beginning to plan to allocate to the qualifying agricultural sectors and now the public eligible for the vaccine has grown exponentially. Give us the vaccines so that we can vaccinate the people who qualify. Do not over saturate the field. “
Cockrell said the state is putting the local health department in a position of failure.
“You are undermining our chances of progressing and succeeding,” she wrote in the chat. “We have moved from forming successful plans to being behind the 8 ball once again.”
Sharp said he will not wait for all counties in the state to complete the phase before expanding eligibility.
“We are trying to find a balance between several counties that have made it through the waiting list,” he said. “And these are not just small counties, but a wide range of counties, including some that we consider to be large counties by Iowa standards. Therefore, we are trying to do our best to find that balance to allow counties to continue to make progress in their populations.
Sharp also said he was trying to keep promises made in the past that he would not reduce the allocation so that counties could properly plan appointments. Sharp said this was a criticism that IDPH received from the county’s public health when it relocated doses to other counties to catch up during the transit from Phase 1A to 1B.
Charity Loecke, who is the Delaware County Public Health Coordinator, said the state should increase its allocation if eligibility is to increase.
“I ask that if you extend eligibility, our vaccine allocation needs to increase !!”, she wrote in the chat. “It seems to us that it is necessary to relocate the vaccine to other counties.”
Sharp replied that he is looking for allocation strategies and is working to increase allocations to counties, but it will take time due to the slow implementation of the vaccine.
Others on the call also told the state that it needs more doses of the vaccine and is able to handle more doses.
IDPH actively seeking mass vaccination tests
Kelly Garcia, who is acting director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said on the call that the state is considering hosting mass vaccination clinics as the supply increases.
Helen Eddy, who is the Director of the Polk County Department of Health, asked if the state was considering state-run mass vaccination clinics specifically at the Test Iowa site.
Garcia said yes and is looking for partnerships with counties as well.
“We are thinking of hosting some of the Americans,” she said. “We would love to partner with counties or groups of counties who would like to keep one together.”
Johnson County wants to divide those with pre-existing conditions into younger age groups
Two different counties wanted IDPH to divide those newly eligible for a vaccine into younger age groups.
Sam Jarvis, who is a division manager for the Johnson County Department of Public Health, requested that these ten-year age groups be in place for the ineligibility of further expansion.
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