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SDMAC to review vaccine subcommittee recommendations
MADISON, Wisconsin – Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine exceeds supply, but a state expert committee is preparing to determine who they think should be eligible for vaccines.
The state has already decided that police, firefighters and people 65 and over should be part of the next phase of distribution, level 1B, as the vaccination of health workers and residents and care workers long term continues under 1A.
The State Disaster and Medical Advisory Committee makes recommendations to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services on other groups that should be included in 1B.
Last week, the committee launched a series of recommendations for public comment, receiving close to 5,000 people. An SDMAC vaccine subcommittee met Wednesday morning to discuss it.
“This is an incredible flow of interest and participation,” said Dr Jonathan Temte, co-chair of the subcommittee.
Since the state recently announced vaccine eligibility for those 65 and older, committee members have focused on other groups, such as those they would consider essential workers facing the eligible public. at level 1B.
Almost 1,800 public comments were supported, including food industry and grocery workers, which were not previously part of the SDMAC recommendations for Phase 1B.
“We agree that they are essential workers in maintaining the function of the company,” said Dr Edward Belongia, member of the subcommittee, during the meeting.
They have chosen to include workers in the grocery store, food production, anti-hunger and agriculture sector in the recommendations they will send to Committee of the Whole, as well as workers in education and childcare, which also received “overwhelming support,” according to public comment documents.
The subcommittee opted to also include transit workers in 1B, which would mean bus drivers, but not taxi drivers, carpool workers, or airline workers, although one minority also supported their inclusion.
Utility workers and 911 operators were also included in the subcommittee’s recommendations. They continued to support the state’s 300 or so mink farmers, citing biosecurity risks due to the transmission of viruses between humans and mink, and for people living in communities.
This includes detainees, although over 70 public comments reviewed show opposition, “some quite vehement”. The subcommittee has always chosen to include incarcerated people, noting their right to health care and the risk of the spread of COVID.
Some in the public called for including veterinarians and librarians, who did not gain support from the majority of the subcommittee. Although there were over 500 comments in favor of including people with risk factors and medical conditions in 1B, most members of the subcommittee felt that the group was too large to justify the postponement of vaccinations for other groups. Belongia expressed its opposition.
“Each case presented is compelling, so I cannot disagree with any group here. It bothers me that some of the people at high risk of dying from COVID-19 are not included in this group. For me, this is a very important consideration, ”Belongia said. “We are protecting a lot of essential workers, and they deserve to be protected, but we are not protecting people with cancer, we are not protecting people with heart disease, kidney disease, etc.”
Members of the sub-committee included family care and IRIS recipients in 1B.
“One challenge that we face and that the committee has faced is that every group that it has looked at … has valid reasons why it is on the list to receive vaccines before the general public does,” said said Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of DHS. “We don’t have enough vaccines to meet the needs of all of these people.”
The SDMAC meets Thursday to consider the latest recommendations from the vaccine subcommittee, then the state has the final say.
“We will look at this list very carefully, and we will look at the group analysis and we will make a decision,” said Willems Van Dijk. “Next, we’ll need to think carefully about when we add additional groups to this vaccine-eligible pool.”
If the subcommittee’s recommendations are upheld, Phase 1B and the current Phase 1A would represent approximately 45% of the state’s adult population.
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