The county has complained with an eight-minute warning about expanding vaccine eligibility.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa (KCRG)-At a webinar every Friday, county officials shared complaints with the Iowa Public Health Service that they were given little or no warning about the changes announced. ThursdayOpen the vaccine eligibility to people with medical conditions under the age of 64. CDC has been identified by COVID-19 as having the potential to cause serious illness.

An email received by the KCRG-TV9 i9 research unit warned the County Health Department that the Iowa Department of Public Health was expanding the eligibility criteria for COVID-19 vaccination eight minutes before the announcement. It shows that it is only.

In a webinar, the State Department of Health said it expects the recently announced changes to add about one million people eligible for the vaccine. Individual counties may do so, but the department does not issue priorities to people with certain illnesses. The state also plans to rely on people who sincerely prove their medical condition and smoking history. In addition, at the same time as vaccination will be given to this new group, vaccination will be given to the hierarchy set in. January..

The ministry said the decision was made after about 12 counties said they had completed vaccinations for people over the age of 65.

Kelly Garcia, interim director of the Iowa Public Health Service, said a move was made to ensure that open appointments were met.

“Not all counties are in the same place, and the move to open things up is based on the idea that both pharmacy partners and local public health agencies had open appointments,” she said. .. “And it’s our goal, our collective goal from the beginning, meeting as many appointments as possible and shooting weapons as soon as possible.”

The ministry also said it was considering a state-controlled vaccination clinic and did not expect changes to the governor’s next emergency declaration.

The Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee, which advises populations immunizing Iowa, said it has no plans to meet again in the future.

Communication problems

Christie Robbie Williams, Director of Public Health in Mascatine County, said previous warnings would give her more time to prepare her department.

“Please consider the Iowa Government to consider contacting the state and local public health departments when the phase changes (before the change),” she said in a telephone chat feature. .. “This will improve communication, call centers, employee readiness, and respond quickly to the community.”

Many others, including Becky Wolf, agreed with this feeling. Wolves are the highest health authorities in Green County.

“If you notify us 10 minutes before you release it to the press, you’ll run into big problems locally, especially on Fridays. We’re better worth it. In these impossible times you’re ours Thank you for doing it. “

Tim Richmond, Wapello County Emergency Management Coordinator for Wapello County, said this was a recurring complaint from the local health agency.

“The locals need to be notified in advance of important changes so that we can manage the local message,” he said. Otherwise, the locals will unnecessarily conflict with their statistical partners. I don’t think this was done intentionally, but there have been repeated complaints throughout this pandemic. “

Ken Sharp, chair of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee. The local public health sector admitted that there were few warnings about the change.

“We listened to you and listened to you every time,” he said. “And we realize that everything is very compressed and that’s what it is. We’re doing everything we can to give you as much notification as we can. And we were a few days ago. We realize that we couldn’t get into a place where the notification wasn’t what we could do. “

After Sharp replied, two different public health officials said they wanted just more than 10 minutes of warning.

Redistributing vaccine doses to counties that have not been vaccinated for people over the age of 65

During the transition from Phase 1A to 1B, IDPH has required all persons in the entire Iowa phase to be vaccinated before any county begins vaccination of the next group of people... This is no longer the case, and county health departments have asked the state to redistribute vaccine doses to counties that have not been vaccinated against people over the age of 65.

Ken Sharp said about 12 counties have completed vaccinations for people over the age of 65. Dana Cockrell, assistant administrator for Monroe County Health Department, asked why these counties could not put doses on hold.

“If a few counties meet their needs, can they put their shipments on hold?” She asked in a chat. “We were just beginning to plan to allocate to eligible agricultural sectors, but now the vaccine-eligible crowd is growing exponentially so that qualified people can be vaccinated. , Give us their vaccine. Do not saturate the field anymore. “

Cockrell said the state is pushing local health departments into failure.

“You are crushing your chances of moving forward and succeeding,” she wrote in a chat. “We went back behind the eight balls from a successful plan.”

Sharp said it does not wait for the phase to complete before all counties in the state expand their eligibility.

“We are trying to find a balance among the many counties that were able to pass the waiting list,” he said. “And these aren’t just small small counties. This is a wide range of counties, including those that are considered large by Iowa standards. Therefore, we can continue to progress beyond the population. I’m doing my best to find that balance so that I can.

Sharp also said it was trying to keep its past promise not to reduce quotas so that the county could properly plan appointments. Sharp said it was a criticism from the county’s public health when IDPH reassigned doses to other counties to catch up during the transition from Phase 1A to 1B.

Charity Rocke, coordinator of Delaware County Public Health, said the state should increase its quota if eligibility increases.

“If you want to extend your eligibility, you need to increase your vaccine quota !!” she wrote in a chat. “This makes us feel that we need to reassign the vaccine to other counties.”

Sharp is considering a allocation strategy and said it is working to increase its allocation to the county, but it will take some time due to the slow deployment of the vaccine.

Others on the phone also told the state that they needed higher doses of the vaccine and were capable of processing higher doses.

IDPH is actively considering mass vaccination trials

Kelly Garcia, interim director of the Iowa Public Health Service, said on the phone that the state is considering hosting a mass vaccination clinic as supply increases.

Helen Eddie, director of the Polk County Health Department, asked if the state was considering a state-managed mass vaccination clinic, especially at Test Iowa Site.

Garcia replied, and is considering partnering with the county.

“We are thinking of hosting some of them from the state side,” she said. “We want to partner with a county or group of counties that we want to bring together.”

Johnson County wants to classify people in existing conditions into a smaller age group

Two different counties wanted IDPH to classify the newly eligible vaccines into a smaller age group.

Sam Jarvis, department manager of the Johnson County Public Health Department, requested that the age group be set at 10 years of age as there are no additional eligibility extensions.

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