Native tribes in Oklahoma are offering the Covid-19 vaccine to anyone who wants it

Native tribes in Oklahoma are offering the Covid-19 vaccine to anyone who wants it

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Other Oklahoma-based tribes have also expanded vaccination beyond tribal citizens. Nations Osage, Choctaw and Citizen Potawatomi are offering vaccines to all members of the public, while the Cherokee Nation has opened nominations for anyone residing in its 14 county jurisdiction.
Oklahoma, for its part, is currently in Phase 3 of its vaccine distribution plan.
These criteria cover a wide range of people, including health professionals, first responders, residents aged 65 and over, those with medical problems, teachers and school staff, students aged 16 and over, people in congregated settings, public health staff , government officials and essential workers. Still, all residents will not be eligible at the state level until Phase 4.

Tribes want to achieve collective immunity

Tribal nations in Oklahoma received doses of the the Indian Health Service. As these tribes demonstrated that they were able to shoot guns quickly, they received more and more doses – allowing them to expand their efforts beyond their own populations.

Dr. John Krueger, medical director of the Chickasaw Nation, credits the tribe’s robust infrastructure for its ability to offer vaccines to non-native members of the community.

The Chickasaw Nation recently opened a new facility in the city of Ada with 16 drive-thru lines, dramatically increasing its capacity. The tribe also has three other vaccination sites, as well as a team that travels to people’s homes, added Krueger.

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Now that vaccines have been offered to those who are part of the Chickasaw Nation’s priority groups, the tribe can move on to those outside the tribe.

“We are part of these communities and they are part of us,” said Krueger. “The faster we can get everyone back to essential protection, the better it will be for us and the better for everyone.”

The Chickasaw Nation has administered more than 30,000 vaccines to date, according to Krueger. Approximately 35,000 Chickasaw citizens live within the tribe’s jurisdiction in south-central Oklahoma.

The Choctaw Nation also attributes its newfound capacity to the success they have had in vaccinating priority groups, such as the elderly.

It is not necessarily a matter of supply exceeding demand, says Cpt. Clinton Bullock, director of pharmacy at Choctaw Nation Health Care Center. Instead, the tribe is capitalizing on the resources offered by the Indigenous Health Service to help protect the rest of the state.

“There are, of course, non-native members of the community with whom our tribal citizens come in contact,” said Bullock. “Helping to develop this collective immunity benefits not only the members of the tribe, but the community as a whole.”

The Choctaw nation has administered more than 20,000 vaccines, according to Bullock.

Some tribes saw demand decrease

Part of the reason why some tribal nations have managed to make vaccines available to anyone who desires it is the hesitation in vaccines.

Dr. Ronald Shaw, CEO of Osage Nation WahZhaZhe Health Center, said the tribe’s health care system initially followed the Center’s guidelines for Disease Control and Prevention in its vaccine distribution. After about a month, the criteria became an obstacle, so they quickly made vaccines available to more age groups. Eventually, they were offering injections to all non-natives.

Number of people hesitant to get the Covid-19 vaccine falling rapidly

Despite the broad invitation, Shaw says demand remains low, adding that people in rural areas in Osage County seem reluctant to receive vaccines.

“This hesitation means that we have more vaccines to give in addition to the Native American patients in our area, so that translates into more vaccines for non-Indians,” said Shaw.

Krueger said that when the Chickasaw Nation opened vaccines for a specific group, there was an initial increase in demand followed by an eventual drop.

The tribe continues to combat vaccine hesitation within the first priority groups, said Krueger. But in the meantime, they have the resources to vaccinate others around them – and recognize that this will help to protect the entire community.

“We have plenty of capacity now not only to take care of the community, but also (of those in the tribe’s priority groups), so that anyone who needs a vaccine can get it,” he said.

Tribes have often overtaken states in the distribution

Many tribal health care providers have overtaken the rest of the country in distributing the vaccine – a bright spot in a pandemic that has seen natives disproportionately affected by the virus.

Natives obtain their health care from a patchwork system of Indigenous Health Service facilities, tribal-operated clinics and urban indigenous health centers, and vaccination efforts vary from tribe to tribe and from state to state.

But while states and counties struggled with disorganized implementations, problematic registration forms and long lines, many tribal nations and clinics were able to vaccinate their populations quickly.

The option to receive quotas from the Indigenous Health Service or its state has given tribal health clinics more independence in distribution, and the autonomy to determine which groups should be given priority has helped tribes to protect the most vulnerable members of their population. Existing robust health systems have helped tribes to reach their citizens more efficiently, while personalized messages have helped build confidence in the vaccine.

As of March 15, more than 1.2 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed by the Indian Health Service and more than 760,000 have been administered.

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