Priority will be given to front-line health care workers, as Oklahoma prepares for the arrival of the first round of COVID-19 vaccine.
Oklahoma Commissioner of Health Lance Frye said Thursday that the first shipment of the newly-developed vaccine could arrive in Oklahoma as soon as Dec. 11, but at least by Dec. 14. He said Oklahoma will receive 33,000 initial doses of vaccine developed by Pfizer, with another shipment of at least 10,000 doses coming from Moderna by the end of the month. Oklahoma then will receive regular shipments of the vaccine on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, said Frye and Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed.
Oklahoma has a COVID-19 task force that developed a multi-stage plan for distribution of the vaccine, one that gives priority to front line health care workers dealing with the pandemic in acute care facilities or doing testing, followed by staff and residents of extended care facilities, other health care workers, emergency responders, confined populations, teachers and others who constitute the “most at-risk population,” Frye said. Distribution to the general public is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021, Frye said.
Reed said the plan is to begin disbursing the vaccine as soon as possible after its arrival, under a plan crafted by health care experts and others over the course of weeks — but one that also is subject to change.
“Flexibility has been a key to our approach,” he said, adding “changes may occur.”
To ensure the proper disbursement, health officials have designated sites around the state that will receive initial shipments. Reed said those sites — which can’t yet be identified — are strategic locations with the ability to meet criteria, to include providing the ultracold storage needed to house the Pfizer vaccine and a willingness to participate in the program. From there, vaccine will be redistributed to primary care systems and health departments to more effectively reach residents, Reed said.
The plan specifies the Oklahoma State Department of Health and the Oklahoma National Guard will handle the logistics of that distribution, with support from local public health entities. The state health department is working with local partners to create plans, Reed said. Once the Phase 1 vaccines have been distributed (at an estimated 115,000, the smallest group), the program will move to other phases.
“Please keep in mind, it will not happen overnight,” Reed said, noting distribution will happen over “days and weeks.”
The distribution will have multiple moving parts that will include differences in distribution for urban and rural populations, and a federal plan concurrent with state efforts to make federal allocations to long-term health care facilities.
“We will ensure all Oklahomans, particularly rural communities, will be able to access the vaccine as it becomes available,” Reed said.
The phased approach will include communications to the general public when it is time for that least-vulnerable population to receive its vaccine. Communications with priority groups will be coordinated with health care organizations and similar entities, a process that will be expanded to additional pandemic providers across the state as more residents are added to the process.
“We are not depending on the health care system alone,” Reed said.
The peculiarities of the vaccines will be part of the distribution process. Frye said a foundation has donated ultracold storage units to Oklahoma that, coupled with sites which already have that capacity, ensures such units are in place in districts across Oklahoma for the Pfizer vaccine. There’s another dividing issue: Pfizer vaccine comes in what health care workers call a “pizza box” and once those large boxes are opened, “we essentially set the clock on the viability of that vaccine.”
“We need to direct that vaccine to larger populations that we can process very rapidly,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is waste vaccine because we fell outside the timeline.”
Frye said that difference in stabilization — meaning, how long they can be kept — is a determining factor in where vaccines will be used. The Moderna vaccine has more flexibility: it has standard freezing temperatures and packages have fewer doses, making it more suitable to rural areas and smaller settings.
Reed said rural populations aren’t at risk for fewer available doses of vaccine. While initial projections were for 10,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, Reed said Oklahoma has been told in recent days its receipt could be six times higher. Pfizer vaccine can be used in rural areas, but Reed said that means being “very, very deliberate in our planning” to ensure that vaccine can be taken to a destination and distributed in a specific timeframe.
“If we have an issue, we just shift our plan and make sure we can compensate for those limitations,” he said.
Reed and Frye said that is part of the reason the state health department implemented a “sign up” program for pandemic providers across the state. Coming in addition to hospitals such as Comanche County Memorial Hospital and Southwestern Medical Center, those being recruited are placed in a state registry so the health department can track vaccine distribution. If you’re not on the registry, you can’t receive shipments of the vaccine, Frye said.
