Mad River Occupational Health’s New Goal: 1,000,000 Vaccinations in 10 days
Mad River Occupational Health Hospital Supervisor Yolanda Stephens was administered the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination in Humboldt County by Tina Wood, nurse manager for Critical Care Services.
As COVID-19 cases continue rising, it has become increasingly difficult to get the coronavirus vaccines into Californians’ hands.
There are many questions that remain unanswered as to how California’s next, and larger, wave will be vaccinated. Doctors and other health professionals in the first priority group complain to state officials that they can’t access the vaccines.
On Wednesday, Dr. Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, announced an ambitious immunization goal. She acknowledged Craigslist Colorado Springs widespread criticisms that the state had been too slow to vaccinate its first priority group, frontline nurses and health care workers. Pan stated that California now plans to immunize 1,000,000 people in the next 10 days.
Officials are looking for dentists and other healthcare professionals to become vaccines. Gov. Gavin Newsom requested that state legislators approve $300 million for the vaccination push.
Pan stated, “We need to move faster,” especially in the middle of the surge.
By Wednesday’s end, nearly 530,400 doses either of the new Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations had been administered. This is just over 25% of the 2,000,000 doses that were shipped to California hospitals.
Mad River occupational health doctors in the first priority group, who are not affiliated with large health care providers, complained in written comments that they couldn’t obtain vaccines for their patients and staff.
Mad River Occupational Health Licensed Midwives
In her public comment, Dr. Ana Sanchez, an Orange County obs/gyn, stated that the current system “leaves out employees who are not employed in major health systems, but some of these workers face high risks of COVID infection.”
She mentioned that her and her staff provided prenatal care to a majority of low-income women, many of whom are infected. One doctor at the Solano County Jail wrote that he was shocked to discover that he wasn’t in the first priority group, despite having treated COVID patients.
“We are the forgotten physicians,” Dr. Lysa Nayen, an Orange County physician who is part of a four-doctor family practice. “Though we don’t work in hospitals, we are still providing outpatient care for COVID-19 patients. This is in an effort to save our local emergency rooms from becoming overwhelmed.”
A state working group made new recommendations to determine which groups should receive vaccinations after nursing home residents and health care workers. State health officials will soon finalize these recommendations.