While Boulder County Public Health and its partners are eager to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine, they say their hands are tied on who receives shots and how fast.
Chris Campbell, BCPH emergency manager and vaccine lead, during the county’s weekly COVID-19 update on Wednesday said the current vaccination plan is state-mandated and that altering the plan could jeopardize Boulder County’s ability to administer vaccines.
“Boulder County Public Health cannot step outside of this phasing. In fact, as a vaccination provider in the community, if we, for example, move on to Phase II tomorrow, there’s a chance we would lose our ability to receive and provide vaccines. I just want to be very transparent and clear with the community that we are really unable to go against the phasing,” Campbell said.
The state vaccination plan includes three phases, with the first phase including a 1B subset.
Phase 1B focuses on moderate-risk health care workers, first responders, other frontline workers and people 70 or older.
The second phase will vaccinate higher-risk individuals and other essential workers and is expected to take place in the spring, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The third phase for the general public is anticipated to begin in summer, according to CDPHE.
COVID data
For information on Boulder County COVID cases, deaths, hospitalizations and trends, click here.
Colorado is in the fifth week of administering the vaccine. Currently, the state is getting around 60,000 vaccines a week, 20,000 of which are immediately allocated for vaccinating residents and staff at long-term care facilities, Campbell said.
Boulder County gets an allocation from the state’s supply of the vaccine but Campbell was not able to provide a specific number during Wednesday’s presentation.
Boulder County has been able to provide 12,649 first doses and 2,062 second doses to residents and health care workers.
While Campbell expects more doses will become available over the coming weeks, he could not provide better timelines for when people in each phase might expect to receive a vaccine.
He and Chris Urbina, BCPH medical officer, assured callers in Wednesday’s meeting that the county and its partners are doing their best to eliminate waste by precisely matching the number of people to the amount of vaccine available each day.
“We are not wasting a single drop,” Urbina said.
Despite their best efforts, some residents are still struggling to understand the best way to receive notification of when they are eligible for the vaccine. Chana Goussetis, BCPH communications and marketing specialist, encouraged people to sign up on multiple notification platforms offered by hospitals and Boulder County. The platforms send an email when the person is eligible to receive the vaccine.
A list of vaccine providers for people 70 and older and information on how to sign up to be contacted to schedule a vaccine is available on the CDPHE website.
For individuals who do not have access to email or prefer to be notified another way, Goussetis said notifications also will be made through community groups, local media outlets, social media and flyers.
“We will be blanketing the community in many different ways. So if someone is not signed up, it doesn’t mean we are not going to notify you,” she said.
Campbell assured listeners at Wednesday’s briefing that there won’t be barriers to receiving the vaccine. Providers are not checking IDs, as they are relying on people to be honest, he said, adding that as the county rolls into other phases, more screening questions may be added but it is unlikely proof of eligibility will be required.
Boulder County has partnered with 30 providers to administer the vaccine. It plans to add more to the list as more vaccines are available. It also is looking at other options including large community clinics to reach populations that might otherwise be missed, Campbell said.
Some listeners were confused as to where they should seek vaccinations based on whether they work and/or live in the county. Campbell encouraged people to seek out a vaccine based on either criterion.
“The most important thing is that we get folks vaccinated,” he said.
“We knew we were going to be in a phase of very limited vaccine availability, and that is where we are right now ... We anticipate that more and more vaccine will become available, we just aren’t quite there yet.
“The message is today just a little bit of patience from the community and understanding. We anticipate that ultimately anyone in the community who wants a vaccine will be able to get a vaccine … it’s just going to take a little bit longer,” Campbell said.
