Stanford Medicine apologizes after medics protested administrator’s vaccines



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This story was updated on December 18, 4:30 p.m. to include the following statement released by Stanford Medicine: “We take full responsibility for errors in executing our vaccine distribution plan. Our intention was to develop a process. ethical and equitable. for the distribution of the vaccine. We apologize to our entire community, including our residents, fellows and other frontline care providers, who acted heroically during our response to the pandemic. We are reviewing immediately our plan to better sequence vaccine distribution. “

Residents flooded Stanford Hospital on Friday in protest, saying officials chose to administer the hospital’s first allotment of vaccines to some administrators and doctors who are at home and not in contact with patients versus frontline workers.

Dozens of residents gathered at the Palo Alto facility sharing signs with messages saying, “Vaccinate the frontline,” “#Healthcare hero. The support sucks ”and“ First in the room. Back of the line ”.

Cameron Mozayan, a Stanford resident, addressed the crowd, explaining that the residents were here at the rally because they worked on site but represented all of the frontline workers.

“We are here to represent our nurses and the emergency department,” Mozayan said in a video of the protest broadcast to SFGATE. “Two nurses, two nurses from the emergency department received vaccines. We are here to support them, our respiratory therapists, our environmental service workers. Food staff, everyone. It was easier for us to come together. And look how many of us are here to gather. I am so amazed at the representation we get. “

A letter to Stanford executives and signed by residents said the hospital was rolling out the vaccine to 5,000 employees in its first phase; of these, only seven residents and fellows were included.

“There is still no articulated plan to vaccinate the remaining 1,300+ residents and scholars, including those on the front lines directly treating COVID-19 patients,” read the letter to leaders at the University of Stanford, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care, and Stanford Children’s Health. “It is important for us to explain to you that at this time the residents are hurt, disappointed, frustrated, angry and feel a deep sense of mistrust of the administration of the hospital given the sacrifices that we made and the promises that were made.

The letter argued that many residents were aware that senior teachers who had been working from home since the pandemic began in March 2020, without any in-person patient responsibility, had been selected for vaccination.

“In the meantime, we residents and fellows are attaching N95 masks for the tenth month of this pandemic without a transparent and clear plan for our protection being in place,” it read. “As leaders point to an error in an algorithm intended to ensure fairness and justice, we understand that this error was identified on Tuesday and a decision was made not to revise the vaccine allocation scheme ahead of its publication today. “


SFGATE also spoke to two third-year residents who did not want to be named in this article because they were concerned it could jeopardize their jobs. They both said that on Thursday evening, 120 residents gathered in a Zoom call to organize the rally to protest the lack of transparency in decision-making regarding vaccine distribution.

The Stanford School of Medicine and Stanford Health Care did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This story will be updated if we hear back.

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