COLOMBIA – Unless the South Carolina public health agency is forced to change the rules, teachers and other essential workers may become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in mid-March, the department’s director told lawmakers on 23 of February.
The State Secretariat for Health and Environmental Control plans to move on to the second phase of eligibility as soon as residents aged 65 and over no longer complete the available consultations.
“My aim is to have no open appointments,” DHEC Director Edward Simmer told a House panel. “We estimate that we are at least two to three weeks away from having open appointments because there are still many elderly people in the queue who want this vaccine and cannot get it now because we don’t have enough.”
Summer is the first year that Southern Carolinians who are not listed as essential workers or have underlying health problems may become eligible for the vaccine, DHEC said.
At Simmer’s insistence, the House panel delayed voting on measures that would force DHEC to make K-12 school officials immediately eligible. It is unclear when – or if – the panel will consider legislation again. It is unlikely to go any further. The bill, passed by the Senate two weeks ago, probably could not become law until mid-March.
The meeting took place a week after the proposal to prioritize educators brought a parade of defenders from other groups before the panel to ask them to also obtain priority status.
South Carolina’s 1.3 million people currently eligible for an injection as part of the initial Phase 1A include anyone aged 65 and over, health professionals and medical first responders. Nearly 560,000 residents had received at least their first injection on February 23, according to DHEC.
They include people who shouldn’t have received one yet, although how many are unknown.
For example, police and firefighters who are not directly involved in emergency medical care should wait until the next phase, although many have already been vaccinated. DHEC officials acknowledged confusion about eligibility categories. But they are cracking down on anyone who breaks the rules. On February 23, Horry County Fire Rescue became the first vaccine supplier to have its future allocations withheld.
In addition to teachers and daycare centers, the next phase, called 1B, should also include bus drivers, grocery store clerks and industry employees – about 573,500 people in all.
State Superintendent Molly Spearman said that educators at least need special status at this stage.
“There is nothing to guarantee that we will have the first consultations. We will be ready to go and knock on your door, but there is no priority defined in that group 1B,” she told Simmer. “Everyone is going to chew the pieces together. I wish we had some priority.”
This DHEC bar chart, updated twice a week, shows the age groups of the Southern Carolinians who died of COVID-19. This screenshot shows the most recent update, starting at midnight on February 21st. DHEC / Supplied
The panel chairman, Bluffton Republican representative Bill Herbkersman, asked Spearman and Simmer to work together on a plan.
As a visible argument for vaccinating the elderly first, Simmer pointed to a bar chart that shows that 82 percent of the more than 8,000 Southern Carolinians who died with COVID-19 were 65 or older. It is a statistic that Governor Henry McMaster, who has the last word in the vaccine’s eligibility rules, has repeatedly cited in refusing calls to add educators to Phase 1A.
The average age of a teacher in South Carolina is 43, according to the state Department of Education.
Certainly, people under 65 “can take COVID and die from COVID,” said Simmer. “There is a risk there, but it is much less of a risk than it is for our elderly. That is why it is very important for us and we recommend that we do it with the elderly first.”
The legislation passed by the Senate would add about 150,000 people to the eligibility list, as it includes all employees of public and private elementary and high schools, as well as daycare centers.
But less than 60 percent of K-12 civil servants, or about 71,000, are currently willing to roll up their sleeves, Spearman said.
Each school district has partnered with a vaccine supplier to receive vaccines as soon as their employees are eligible, she said, noting that 30 states have already placed teachers on the list.
“I never intended to pit one group against another. My intention is to take any excuse from a student by saying, ‘We can’t open up.’ They need to be open, “said Spearman.” If something doesn’t happen soon, school will be over. We’re running out of time. “
While recognizing that the legislation would not require this, Simmer provided a scenario for what could happen if the state suspends all appointments and designates a two-week distribution for K-12 officials to cover the first and second doses.
“We estimate that we would have more than 400 extra hospitalizations among the elderly with just this two-week delay, an additional 3,500 cases among the elderly,” he said. “We will vaccinate those most at risk first, help save their lives as much as we can.”
Before all Southern Carolinians are eligible for the vaccine, the state has phase 1C that includes anyone aged 16 or over with a specific set of underlying health conditions, including cancer and kidney disease, and key staff working in transport and logistics, food service, housing construction, information technology, legal and media. Phase 1C is estimated to begin in late spring.
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