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Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/20/texas-coronavirus-vaccine-rio-grande-valley/
When health workers at a Rio Grande Valley hospital declined the COVID-19 vaccine, a state senator and law enforcement lined up
So many workers at an Edinburg hospital declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that it offered doses to other medical workers in the region. The vaccine ended up going to nonmedical personnel as well.
by Vianna Davila, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune Dec. 20, 2020 Updated: Dec. 21, 2020
So many workers at a hospital in the Rio Grande Valley declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that the facility offered doses to other medical workers in the region. Many showed up, but so did a state lawmaker, a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy who weren’t on the state’s priority list for vaccination.
Hospitals across Texas began to receive the first batches of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the last several days. Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, one of the Texas facilities hardest hit by the virus this year, received 5,850 doses of the vaccine.
State guidelines say these initial batches should go to front-line health care workers. But the actual distribution may look different from facility to facility as each interprets those state recommendations.
Dr. Robert Martinez, the DHR Health chief medical officer, said hospital officials prioritized employees considered in the first tier for a dose, like long-term care workers and hospital staff members who work directly with COVID-19 patients. But administrators realized not enough people eligible for the vaccine were initially going to opt to get it, Martinez said.
“You start to see similar numbers across the country, all this mistrust and misinformation,” he said.
Initially, about 40% to 60% of people who answered a hospital survey said they’d get the vaccine, Martinez said. The lower-than-expected vaccine adoption rate was first reported by The Monitor...
When health workers at a Rio Grande Valley hospital declined the COVID-19 vaccine, a state senator and law enforcement lined up
So many workers at an Edinburg hospital declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that it offered doses to other medical workers in the region. The vaccine ended up going to nonmedical personnel as well.
by Vianna Davila, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune Dec. 20, 2020 Updated: Dec. 21, 2020
So many workers at a hospital in the Rio Grande Valley declined the new COVID-19 vaccine that the facility offered doses to other medical workers in the region. Many showed up, but so did a state lawmaker, a police officer and a sheriff’s deputy who weren’t on the state’s priority list for vaccination.
Hospitals across Texas began to receive the first batches of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the last several days. Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, one of the Texas facilities hardest hit by the virus this year, received 5,850 doses of the vaccine.
State guidelines say these initial batches should go to front-line health care workers. But the actual distribution may look different from facility to facility as each interprets those state recommendations.
Dr. Robert Martinez, the DHR Health chief medical officer, said hospital officials prioritized employees considered in the first tier for a dose, like long-term care workers and hospital staff members who work directly with COVID-19 patients. But administrators realized not enough people eligible for the vaccine were initially going to opt to get it, Martinez said.
“You start to see similar numbers across the country, all this mistrust and misinformation,” he said.
Initially, about 40% to 60% of people who answered a hospital survey said they’d get the vaccine, Martinez said. The lower-than-expected vaccine adoption rate was first reported by The Monitor...