Texans don’t have to prove they’re eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and some are skipping the line.

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“I sent them mostly to get vaccines to protect me and for the good of our newborn since [my husband] tends to see more friends, ”said the 37-year-old, who requested anonymity for fear of public retaliation.

Tensions around the so-called ‘line jumpers’ are high as Texas strives to immunize the majority of its 29 million people, reduce the number of deaths and hospitalizations and stem the spread of the disease. viruses among highly vulnerable communities of color.

Current state guidelines require beneficiaries to be 65 years of age or older, a frontline health worker, employed as a teacher or educator, or medically vulnerable worker, and over 15 years of age. About 4.3 million people in Texas – or about 14% of the state’s population – have received at least one dose. Between 10 and 13 million people are eligible for the vaccine according to Texas guidelines, said Lara Anton, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Health Services.

Anton said that if a provider has access to a recipient’s medical records – for example if the person is an existing patient – these can be used to verify a person’s medical eligibility, but providers are not. authorized under state health guidelines to require beneficiaries to prove a medical condition.

She added that the state didn’t want to make it harder for people to get vaccinated by forcing them to bring medical records.

“We don’t want to create barriers that would prevent people from getting vaccinated, and each person vaccinated slows the spread of disease and relieves pressure on the hospital system,” said Anton.

Although many providers say they believe, based on anecdotal evidence and state data, that most people who receive the vaccine are eligible, they recognize that it is difficult to confirm eligibility and enforce the guidelines. requirements beyond a person’s age when there is no medical record to verify. Many qualifying conditions, such as diabetes or sickle cell anemia, are not easily confirmed without them.

The result is that the providers largely operate on the honor system. And the reaction of an older Texas state senator to being vaccinated before his age group became eligible for reports of apparently healthy young college students lining up to be vaccinated on campus with little more than a student ID, anecdotal evidence shows that not everyone follows it. .

“The ethical thing to do is wait until it’s your turn, although I know it’s frustrating for a lot of people,” said Allison Winnike, president and CEO of The Immunization Partnership, an organization in statewide nonprofit that focuses on eradicating preventable vaccines. diseases.

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According to officials, it is impossible to quantify the incidents and impact of line breakers. The state also doesn’t track the number of people on vaccine wait lists, as Texas has more than 1,500 vaccine providers, each has a different system, and some people are on multiple wait lists simultaneously.

Anton said providers have not reported issues with ineligible people exceeding priority groups, but if a provider indicates that they plan to do this out of practice, “we will contact them immediately and explain that they are not. should not vaccinate people. outside of these groups. “

Once Texas expands the eligibility requirements to include more people and possibly essential workers, a move expected later this month, the issue of hitting unskilled people will have less of an impact. impact, Winnike said.

“As you open it up, there are more opportunities to jump online, but less reason to do so,” Winnike said. “At some point, it will be almost irrelevant.”

An “ ethical gray area ”

Stories that make headlines in Texas and across the country tell of the battle between the skilled and the unskilled.

States like New York are struggling to vaccinate people of color while white residents line up at vaccination centers for communities of color. Reports of people crossing state and county borders to get vaccinated have sparked crackdowns in Florida. Social media is teeming with personal stories of people getting vaccinated or angrily complaining about people seemingly ineligible to be vaccinated as priority people are placed on waiting lists.

Half of all Texans aged 65 and over have received at least one dose, which is almost 2 million people and almost half of all doses given in Texas, according to figures from the DSHS. Seniors, who make up about 13% of Texas’ population, are the most likely to be hospitalized and die from the virus.

In Austin, more than half a million people qualify for eligibility and about 200,000 are pre-registered through the Austin public health system and are still waiting, an APH spokesperson said in a press release sent by email. Some 167,000 people have received at least one dose in communities across Travis County, according to state health officials.

The line break is “an unfortunate reality for many providers” but “overall we are trying to get herd immunity and a bullet in one arm is good for the whole community,” the door said. -speak.

“We want to give priority to our most vulnerable who may suffer the most from the virus,” added the spokesperson. “Instead of skipping the line, help an elderly person register for the vaccine.”

Registration issues have occurred in several states, including Texas, which has allowed thousands of ineligible people to bypass priority guidelines and sign up for dates or show up at major events walk-in vaccination to get a vaccine they were not yet eligible for, according to reports.

At the University of Texas at Austin at the end of February, an online registration link for appointments through UT Health Austin was “inappropriately shared” and has led people to mistakenly believe it. ‘They qualified and entered for a shot, officials said. Officials subsequently canceled most of these appointments.

“Everyone is fighting the same bugs in the system,” said Jen Stratton, communications director for Family Hospital Systems in Williamson County, which partners with the county to run a vaccination center. “I don’t know of a single hub in this country that hasn’t had any issues with people getting connections that maybe they shouldn’t have had.

“There is no right answer,” Stratton added. “We do everything we can to make sure that the right people [the vaccine] at the right time. And we understand the frustration, and we understand the perception. And we just ask for patience.

Use every stroke

Faced with the attempt to vaccinate against a virus that has killed nearly 45,000 people in Texas in the past year, providers are juggling the cost of vaccinating some who aren’t qualified with the benefit of getting so many vaccinated of Texans as possible.

In some cases, vaccines are given to ineligible people because providers don’t want to waste vaccine doses when eligible people cancel or miss their appointments or because there are not enough eligible people. who present themselves during a vaccination campaign. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be used within a certain period of time after their seal is broken.

When this happens, providers must choose between vaccinating someone who is not in a priority group or throwing away a precious dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is already in short supply. Most appear to follow recommendations from state and country health officials to administer the vaccine to those who do not meet the eligibility criteria if it prevents wasted doses – even though providers are criticized for vaccinating people. outside the eligibility criteria.

“This is the ultimate Catch-22,” Stratton said.

Austin’s mother, 37, who feared for her newborn if she or the baby caught COVID-19, admitted that the family’s decision to vaccinate her healthy young husband is “an ethical zone. gray ”that could elicit negative reactions from family members or the public if they shared it on social media.

“But here’s what I know now,” she said. “I know that if I get sick, he [my husband] or my mother could take care of my baby in the same household. … I didn’t feel very good about the decision. But I was like, I’m going to get there anyway because your maternal instinct kicks in and you’re just like, ‘No, I’ll do anything to protect my baby.’ “

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/09/texas-coronavirus-vaccine/.

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