Lawmakers denounce ‘kink’ in COVID vaccine distribution in Alabama – ‘Our citizens pay a deadly price’ – Yellowhammer News

The deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine in Alabama has drawn a fair amount of criticism, mainly for the country’s last place ranking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and for a hotline set up by the Department of L ‘Alabama. of public health (ADPH) for appointments for vaccines, which was sometimes overwhelmed.

State health worker Dr Scott Harris disputed the CDC’s findings, saying it failed to take into account updated state data that would have made Alabama a intermediate level. He told the APTV “Capitol Journal” that the solution to all of the state’s woes would be for more vaccines to be readily available.

A handful of Alabama state senators have taken note of the shortcomings and are urging ADHD officials to take notice of the data and report to the CDC, which will help the state avoid attribution issues in the future. In a joint letter, Sen. Jim McClendon (R-Springville), Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), Tom Whatley (R-Auburn) and Randy Price (R-Opelika) warned the citizens of Alabama to pay a ” deadly price ‘because of the state of Alabama struggles.

“We always knew that distributing the Covid vaccine supply would be difficult, especially at the beginning,” Senators said. “While the supply pipeline is definitely a problem, our pipeline in Alabama has a problem. Vaccine distribution in Alabama will continue to be halted until Alabama abides by the rules. The rule is simple: CDC won’t allow shipments to Alabama until they know we’re using what we have on hand. Our citizens are paying a deadly price. “

Lawmakers said the ADPH must follow the rules set out by the CDC and said the following questions had not received a sufficient response from the ADPH:

1. How many doses have we received in Alabama?
2. How many doses have been distributed to locations across the state?
3. How many doses were put in the weapons?
4. How many armed doses have been reported to the CDC?

“If the Alabama Department of Public Health does not know the answer [to] these issues, then the CDC certainly doesn’t know, and it doesn’t make sense to send extra doses to Alabama, ”their letter added.

The statement contained suggestions for resolving these issues.

Sens. McClendon, Albritton, Whatley and Price full letter below:

McClendon is Chairman of the Senate Health Committee, Albritton is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and General Tax Fund, and Whatley is Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

The Alabama Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yellowhammer News.

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.

ADPH provided a written statement in response to the senators’ letter.

The department said it wanted to “correct any misunderstanding about the process for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.”

ADPH statement as follows:

The department is in regular communication with our elected officials in Alabama and has described in detail the process of weekly allocation of our vaccines per capita. The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses assigned to Alabama is based on our population and is not determined by the amount of vaccine available in the state. The number of doses remaining from previous allocations does not affect the number of doses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authorizes for Alabama.

ADPH has had ongoing conversations with CDC to provide our numbers in Alabama.

While the department is working with the CDC to resolve data issues that were encountered due to a response of this size, it in no way affects the number of doses Alabama receives.

Data to answer each of the questions posed in the letter is publicly available on the ADPH COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Dashboard, accessible on the ADPH website (arcg.is/OrCey) and updated. on January 19, 2021. CDC data is available on its vaccine data tracking website (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker / #vaccinations), although the CDC has Alabama information has not been updated since Jan.15, 2021.

Suppliers are required to report to the federal government within 24 hours of receiving the vaccine. ADPH uses the Immunization Patient Registry with Integrated Technology (ImmPRINT) system to collect this information. Staff work with providers if assistance is needed.

The biggest barrier to getting vaccinated in Alabama is the limited supply of vaccines. Alabama currently has about 676,000 people in Alabama who qualify to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but because our state only receives 50,000 to 60,000 primary doses each week, the supply is not available to meet these numbers. for the time being.

ADPH receives thousands of calls, emails and social media posts every day from people providing suggestions to speed up the immunization process. We appreciate all recommendations and want the public to be assured that ADHD has an amazing staff of doctors, nurses, public health experts and other health professionals who continue to work tirelessly on the deployment of vaccines in Alabama. A vaccination plan of this magnitude is truly unprecedented, and ADHD is grateful for everyone’s continued patience as we work to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

@Jeff_Pauvre is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of Southern Alabama, editor-in-chief of Breitbart TV, columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from Mobile 9 am to 12 pm on FM Talk 106.5.