Dallas County Commissioners agreed on Tuesday to prioritize vaccinating residents in zip codes that appear to be the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the leaders gave up on the plan a day later, after the state threatened to cut off the city’s vaccine supply and said the plan was “at odds with previously agreed guidelines”.
The plan outlined would have prioritized certain postal codes for vaccine distribution at the county’s Fair Park distribution center. The county would still have followed the tier system established by the state that determined which groups were eligible for the vaccine – but within those groups, residents of those postal codes would have priority.
During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners said prioritizing would mean “exhausting” all efforts to help people in vulnerable areas to get vaccination appointments open every day in the county’s online booking system. After making a “good faith effort” to do so, people from other areas could make an appointment.
“You will always have a little [of appointments] for the rest of Dallas County, “said Commissioner JJ Koch.” We are not excluding them.
An information document said the plan would stipulate that “the distribution of vaccines in Dallas County must start with priority postal codes and continue to the rest of the county when the supply permits,” adding, “Upon moving to the next level, distribution it should only start with priority postal codes and do not include the entire county, unless there is a wide offer. ”
Tom Fox / AP
The county said it prioritized the postal codes listed by the research firm PCCI as having high scores on its “vulnerability index”. According to the PCCI, the index assesses factors such as the prevalence of comorbidities, the capacity for social distance and socioeconomic status. Most of the postal codes they planned to prioritize, according to the Dallas interactive database, have some of the highest numbers of new cases in the past two weeks in the county.
As the CEPs selected for prioritization are based on this system, the change support commissioners agreed that the areas that receive priority may change if the data is changed.
These postal codes are composed mainly of black and Latino individuals, who the CDC says are more susceptible to contracting, being hospitalized and dying from the disease.
Of the 79,010 who live in CEP 75211, for example, 71,800 are black, Hispanic or Latino, according to the database, and more than 6,300 people are 65 or older.
According to an instruction from the commissioner’s court, the Texas State Department of Health Services notified the commission in writing on Wednesday that the order “is at odds with previously agreed guidelines.”
CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported that in the letter the state warned that the plan is in conflict “with the stated objectives of the DSHS and the state of Texas for the vaccine to be distributed as widely and equitably as possible in the communities of the state”.
Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Human Services and Health, said during an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday that if the county did not terminate the plan by 8 am on Thursday, the state said it would not. would receive more scheduled vaccines.
“They reduced us to 9,000 doses for the next week, and if they don’t know that we’ve resolved that, they will definitely reduce or, I think, cancel our dose,” he said.
The commissioners voted on Wednesday to rescind the plan.
“We just need to do what they ask us to do,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. “Terminate the order. We can bring it back another day.”
But Commissioner JJ Koch criticized Jenkins at the meeting, saying he had been “underhanded” with the state in informing him of the Dallas vaccination plan. Jenkins had sent a letter to the state about the commission’s vaccine prioritization plans, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
“You made it clear to the state that we were totally excluding people who were not in those postal codes. It is not the case, ”said Koch, saying that other people should and would have been able to get the vaccines.
Last week, the county only allowed residents aged 75 and over to have vaccination appointments, according to a CBS affiliate KYTX. Koch spoke out against that choice during Tuesday’s meeting, arguing that current county priorities have excluded minority residents.
“Those who are over 75, those who have come this far in life, are richer and whiter. They tend to be those who live in single family homes, have enough wealth and the ability to keep themselves properly segregated from others. people not to get the disease, “said Koch. “We are missing that 65-75 [age range], [where] there are a huge number of Latinos, African Americans, who are still in the workforce, in multi-generational family homes … and not in a position where they can isolate themselves from many other people. “
“We prioritize people because of a number, without really looking at who those people are in our geography,” he said.
Chris Van Deusen, director of media relations for the Texas State Department of Health Services, told CBS News that vaccination center providers are required to “ensure that they are vaccinating people in the most affected areas and populations, but they can’t do that to the exclusion of literally everyone. ”
“In exchange for receiving a larger and consistent amount of vaccine, all the hub providers have agreed to vaccinate people, regardless of where they live, including neighboring counties. The goal of being a hub is to provide vaccine to large communities,” said Van Deusen said. “[Dallas County Commissioners Court] they can use some of their vaccines to target specific groups or areas, but they cannot do it all and remain a central provider. ”