Stanford accidentally vaccinated non-frontline workers

• Some Stanford medical schools and non-clinical researchers mistakenly obtained the COVID-19 vaccine earlier than expected this weekend.
• Stanford Hospital offered walk-in vaccine appointments over the weekend and some affiliates thought they might be eligible to receive excessive doses.
• There was in fact not a surplus of vaccine, but an unconfirmed number of non-clinical staff received their vaccine anyway.
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Some Stanford Medicine affiliates who do not work in patient-facing roles were able to get a first injection of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this weekend due to poor communication about walk-in appointments, reported Tuesday the Stanford Daily.

The vaccine was supposed to be restricted to frontline healthcare workers until next week, with non-clinical affiliates scheduled to receive the vaccine after January 8.

But when Stanford Hospital offered walk-in vaccinations on Saturday and Sunday – apparently because there weren’t many vaccination appointments scheduled for the weekend – an unconfirmed number of staff not clinic received the vaccine.

Stanford Health Care did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, but Representative Julie Greicius wrote in a statement to Stanford Daily that Stanford Medicine administers vaccines to health workers in contact with patients “by invitation only. ” in the future.

This is not the first mistake in the deployment of the vaccine at Stanford. Stanford Medicine was also criticized a week earlier for prioritizing older workers and not frontline residents and fellows in the first round of gunfire. Executives have apologized for the misstep and said they will prioritize frontline workers, but now the hospital faces another wave of vaccine controversy.

This time around, the problem appeared to be a combination of poor communication about vaccine supply and a lack of eligibility verification during walk-in appointments, according to four researchers and professors who told The Daily that ‘they knew someone who had received the vaccine early or had witnessed the situation firsthand.

Misinformation about an apparent excess of vaccines has added to the confusion

False claims that Stanford Medicine had an excess supply of vaccines and that non-clinical affiliates were eligible to circulate the extra doses on mailing lists and social media over the weekend, which would explain why some affiliates thought be able to go into the hospital and get the shot. In reality, there was no oversupply.

An associate professor, a researcher in non-clinical genetics, told The Daily that he received the vaccine over the weekend after hearing about alleged excess doses of the vaccine through the mailing list of the faculty of the Department of Biology of the development.

“We just got word of mouth that the Pfizer COVID19 vaccine is available to non-clinical staff, apparently they had an excess of it,” the developmental biology department email obtained by The Daily read. . “You have to enter through the atrium of New Stanford Hospital. They are open until 11pm tonight and open at 7am tomorrow. No special permission was needed.

The email was then forwarded to the genetics department and the news quickly circulated on social media, the Daily reported.

While there was not actually an excess vaccine supply at Stanford this weekend, it is true that pharmacists were able to extract an additional dose or two from the Pfizer and Moderna vials.

Also this weekend, the Redlands Community Hospital in Southern California reconsidered additional doses for non-frontline healthcare workers – and a woman who works for Disney – after immunizing the highest priority beneficiaries.

This isn’t Stanford’s first vaccine misstep

Stanford Medical was criticized last week for overtaking frontline residents and fellows in the first round of vaccinations. The hospital used an algorithm that prioritized older employees – including senior executives and telecommuters – and allowed younger, high-risk workers to slip through the cracks.

Doctors held a demonstration at Stanford Medical Center on December 18 to protest the hospital’s misallocation of the vaccine. A letter to senior officials at Stanford Medicine, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, said only seven residents and fellows were vaccinated in the first round, while senior officials and remote workers preceded them.

Stanford Medical has issued a statement claiming it takes “full responsibility” for problems with the vaccine rollout.

“Our intention was to develop an ethical and fair process for the distribution of the vaccine,” the statement said. “We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, scholars and other frontline care providers, who acted heroically during our response to the pandemic. We are immediately revising our plan to better sequence vaccine distribution.