Lexington may take longer to finish 1st phase of COVID-19 vaccinations. Here’s why
State leaders have recently criticized slow vaccine rollout in Kentucky, but Fayette County officials maintain that they’re getting the shots into people’s arms as quickly as possible.
Even so, Lexington may fall behind other counties across the state in trying to get through the initial stage because Fayette County has over 20,000 health care workers, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. That’s over 6 percent of the local population.
“We’re still very early in Phase 1A in Lexington because of the vast number of people who qualify as 1A,” health department spokesman Kevin Hall said. “The number of health care workers in Lexington is larger than the population of several Kentucky counties.”
In an effort “to get shots into the arms of Lexington citizens as soon as possible,” Mayor Linda Gorton launched a COVID-19 vaccine task force. The task force is co-chaired by logistics expert Chuck Mix and Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, Lexington’s public health commissioner, Gorton said.
In addition to health care workers, the first phase also includes nursing homes and long-term care residents, but those residents are being vaccinated separately under federal agreements with Walgreens and CVS.
Many of the task force members have been involved in coordinating Lexington’s response to the pandemic since March, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. The task force will work with the state and federal governments to “streamline the distribution process at the local level.”
“The state and the federal governments have a lot to do with how the vaccine is distributed in our city,” Gorton said in a statement. “They determine how much vaccine we get, when we get it, and set priorities for how it is distributed. Within that framework, we will work at the local level to make sure the distribution is efficient and timely.”
One task force goal will be to set up vaccination sites around Lexington to provide equitable access to the vaccine.
Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday that the state wanted to enter the second phase, 1B, of distribution (first responders, people over 70, and teachers/support staff) by the beginning of February, but he was hopeful that those immunizations could start earlier, during the last week of January. Lexington city officials leaned toward the later start date.
“It will probably be the beginning of February before we get to 1B,” said Susan Straub, spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
Who’s been vaccinated in Lexington?
Thousands of people have been vaccinated in Lexington, according to ithe local health department, the mayor’s office, and local hospitals.
Health care workers employed with smaller providers have been able to get vaccinated through the health department, which received limited doses and held clinics to inject about 3,300 dental, medical and pharmaceutical workers.
The city had vaccinated nearly 250 additional essential workers as of Wednesday, Straub said.
That included 193 paramedics, 16 employees from airport public safety, 20 from American Medical Response Ambulance, seven from the coroner’s office and 15 from the Dr. Samuel Brown Health Center. The Dr. Samuel Brown Health Center is a city employee health clinic.
No Lexington police officers or Fayette County jail officers had been vaccinated yet, Straub said.
Paramedics were prioritized before other first responders because they’re able to help administer the vaccine. Lexington paramedics assisted the health department in administering vaccines to as many as 1,800 front line health care workers Wednesday.
“If we weren’t under a state declaration of emergency, we typically wouldn’t be authorized to administer vaccinations,” said Marc Bramlage, Battalion Chief for the Lexington Fire Department. But Beshear gave paramedics the authority to assist in that process.
“It’s a great help to the health department because today it’s pretty much 1-for-1 paramedic to health department provider,” Bramlage said. “So they were able to double their capacity of what they were able to administer (Wednesday).”
The local health department clinics are only open for health care providers and staff who have direct patient contact and aren’t expected to get vaccinated through their employer.
Health care workers interested in learning more about the health department’s vaccination clinics can visit lfchd.org/covid19-vaccine.
Major Lexington hospitals were still in the process of vaccinating their employees Wednesday, and hospital officials said they don’t have extra doses.
More than 1,300 employees with Baptist Health Lexington had been vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to hospital spokeswoman Ruth Ann Childers. Baptist Health was vaccinating workers in the medical group, urgent treatment centers and system employees, Childers said.
There were about 1,300 left to be vaccinated, Childers said. Signing up for the vaccine is voluntary for Baptist Health employees, but more than 2,000 staff members have volunteered and more are expected to sign up, Childers said.
UK HealthCare plans to finish administering a total of 6,388 first-time doses and 2,250 booster doses by the end of this week, according to spokesperson Kristi Willett. The “decline rate” has been low at UK with 94 percent of workers accepting the vaccine.
CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington administered 2,580 doses to its employees as of Friday, according to spokeswoman Mary Branham. They’re administering the vaccine as directed by the state and will order more doses for the second shots, Branham said.
The vaccine is encouraged for all Saint Joseph Health employees, Branham said, but there are some workers who haven’t committed to taking it yet.
“We have found that some are taking a wait and see approach, and many are interested, but may be excluded for a number of other medical reasons,” she said.
No ‘stockpile’ of vaccine in Lexington, officials say
Dr. Steven Stack, state public health commissioner, expressed concern Monday that too many vaccine doses weren’t being used quickly enough. He urged vaccination sites to use at least 90 percent of their doses within the first seven days of receiving them, even if it meant vaccinating some members of the general public before vaccinating some members of priority vaccine groups.
But that issue hasn’t materialized in Lexington. Officials said the health department’s vaccination clinics have filled up fast.
“There’s a misconception among the community that there’s a stockpile of vaccine coming in,” Hall said. “There’s not. Typically we find out on Monday how much vaccine we’re getting, so we’re planning these events as we go ... when we get the shipment on Monday, they’re into people’s arms on Wednesday. There’s no waste. We use every dose that we get.
Hall said that when the health department opened the sign-up portal for Wednesday’s vaccination clinic, 700 people signed up in the first 90 minutes. All the sign-up slots were full by the end of the day.
Hospitals have been using up their doses quickly as well. Baptist Health has been administering its vaccine doses as they’re received, rather than reserving doses for second shots.
“We have been assured we will receive an ample supply for second dosages,” Childers said.
UK HealthCare has done the same thing, Willett said.
“Every vaccine we have received, we have pushed to administer as quickly as possible as an initial dose or booster, but we are not holding anything back for any reason,” she said.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 7:48 AM.