Will Utahns wait their turn in line when vaccines are opened for those with underlying diseases?

Instead, the state is relying on the honor system. It is an effort to get guns fired as quickly as possible, but it will almost certainly result in abuse, as people discover that there are relatively few obstacles that prevent them from moving in line.

“It is possible that people lie about whether or not they have one of these underlying health conditions,” Governor Spencer Cox acknowledged at a news conference on Thursday, where he pleaded with Utahns to follow the rules.

The requirement for paperwork as proof of eligibility would not only “significantly slow down the process of putting vaccines in the arms of these people,” said Hudachko, but would also represent an “unnecessary burden on health professionals who would be responsible for providing such documentation” .

This shift to broader access to the vaccine occurs when the number of deaths from coronavirus in Utah approaches 2,000. But the seven-day average for the rate of positive tests for coronavirus has been falling, both by the traditional measure of the state – which was still above 10% last week – and by the new methodology, which revolved around 6% in the week last. The number of Utahns who are fully vaccinated with two doses has exceeded 225,000 in the middle of the week, with that total likely reaching 250,000 over the weekend.

What’s going on elsewhere?

As states begin to qualify larger groups of residents for vaccination, they take different approaches to whether or not to require paperwork to vaccinate people in a priority group.

While it is not yet known how the honor system will be implemented here, Margaret Battin, professor of philosophy at the University of Utah, said she wondered if the influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints community could affect the success of the policy.

“Church teachings … I think they tend to discourage behaviors like cutting lines,” said Battin, who is also an adjunct professor in the US medical ethics and humanities program within the Department of Internal Medicine. “Whatever ‘doing right’ and ‘choosing right’, this type of moral teaching may very well play a role in the behavior of many people in this state that may not be as true in a more heterogeneous state as New York.”

Hudachko said the decision was made primarily based on feedback from vaccine and health care providers that requiring paperwork would create “significant bottlenecks”. He said he was unable to make comparisons on which approach is most effective and noted that several states have not yet started vaccinating people with underlying health problems.

While the honor system has its own problems, Jim Tabery, an associate professor of philosophy in the United States, said he thinks launching the vaccine as planned is the “ethically appropriate way forward”.

“Obviously, when you’re thinking about something like that, your mind naturally goes to the vaccine or parasite line jumpers,” he said. “There may be a little bit of that out there, but the question is, what system are you envisioning to create to eliminate them? And is it really a better system? “

Requiring people to overcome obstacles to prove they have an underlying health problem can be “terribly invasive” for people with disabilities, he said, and can also pose equity problems in gaining access to the vaccine. Individuals within hard-hit black communities, for example, may not have access to a health care provider to obtain proof of their condition or may have difficulty getting an appointment at work.

“If you are dealing with someone [in that situation] who has diabetes and you’re saying, ‘To get the vaccine, we also need some kind of confirmation that you have diabetes’, you’re essentially asking them to see a health professional that they don’t have access to, ”he said. “And, probably, what you’re doing is making sure that someone won’t have access to a vaccine.”

Up to this point, it has been “relatively straightforward” for vaccination providers to determine eligibility in Utah, Hudachko noted.

Even so, Salt Lake County Health Department spokesman Nicholas Rupp said there were some cases where people tried to “trick the system” and were rejected at a vaccination site.

“Fortunately, it is not a widespread problem,” he said. “We had more people really misinterpreting their eligibility, but even those are not widespread.”

The county has not taken a stand on the use of an honor system, but Rupp said the health department will follow the state and governor’s instructions “and encourage people to be honest so that the vaccine reaches those who are really most at risk. from serious illness to illness. “

In announcing on Thursday that vaccines would be available to people with underlying illnesses immediately, instead of the previously planned March 1 date, Cox noted that those who now qualify are at the greatest risk of hospitalization and death because of COVID- 19.

And he asked the Utahns who have no right not to schedule appointments.

“We have a lot more vaccines coming and they will be coming soon, but we are prioritizing these individuals – again based on age and these underlying comorbidities – because they are at the greatest risk of hospitalization or death,” he said. “So if you jump in line, it means that there is someone else who is not going to get the vaccine as soon as they could and it is very possible that you will end up hospitalized, or worse, dying.”

Those who follow the rules “can sleep well at night knowing that you didn’t cheat the system, that you were willing to offer it to those who needed it most,” he added.

As the state opens vaccines to more people, Tabery said the most ethical thing that those who are not entitled to one can still do is wait their turn.

There are legitimate questions about justice in the vaccine launch, he noted. But if, say, a grocery store employee felt he should have been included in the last round of vaccinations, the way to deal with it is to contact state leaders to express that concern – not for someone to take care of himself hands.

“If someone found themselves in a situation where they were simply in the hospital or the pharmacy and the pharmacist or nurse said, ‘Hey, we have an extra dose. This is going to be wasted if you don’t use it, so it would be wrong not to use it, ”he said.

It is likely that many people will make these ethical calculations during this phase of the state’s implantation, but Battin indicated that the social stigma and disapproval of the people who cut the line will be the main defense against this behavior.

Tabery said he anticipates that there will be times when people will cut the vaccine line and that those instances, when identified, will make the news.

But he is confident that most Utahns “will follow these rules”.

“I really think there is a kind of community mentality underlying the state of Utah, which serves well in situations like this,” he said. “And so I’m sure there will be thread cutters. I am sorry that they find themselves in a situation where they felt they should or could do this. But I think they will certainly be the exception – not the rule. “