Becker's Hospital Review

46 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Hospital workers upset over COVID-19 vaccine distribution By Ayla Ellison W hile COVID-19 vaccine roll- out has gone smoothly at many healthcare organizations, physi- cians and nurses at hospitals in Arizona, Cal- ifornia, New York and elsewhere say vaccine distribution at their facilities has been cha- otic and unfair, according to a Dec. 28 NPR report. Employees at Mass General Brigham in Bos- ton signed up for vaccinations using an app. e app crashed aer too many people tried to sign up at once, and more issues were reported aer the app was back up and running. Jennifer DeVincent, who has been a neonatal intensive care nurse at Mass General Brigham for 16 years, described the vaccine distribution process as a "free-for-all." ough the plan was for hospital workers at the highest risk to be vaccinated first, the system relied on an honor code that allowed employees to "self-police," according to emails obtained by NPR. Ms. DeVincent said she became angry when she realized some of the first employees to get the shots are in low-risk categories and don't do hands-on patient care. Paul Biddinger, MD, medical director for emergency preparedness at Mass General Brigham, said the honor code is necessary because it's "relatively complex to figure out who is working where" at an organization with a staff of more than 80,000. Dr. Biddinger said the data shows it's rare for a worker to jump the line, and Mass General Brigham is developing clearer guidelines for vaccine distribution. In New York City, NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital Chief Operating Officer Craig Albanese, MD, said he was "disappointed and saddened" aer staff cut the line to get vaccinated, according to e New York Times. NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital was one of the facilities where staff told the Times they're upset with how COVID-19 vaccines are being distrib- uted. e most exposed healthcare work- ers, including those working directly with COVID-19 patients, were supposed to re- ceive the COVID-19 vaccine first. However, within 48 hours of the first doses arriving, some employees at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital received access to the vaccine despite being in low- risk categories, according to the Times. Some of the employees who received the vaccine worked from home during the pandemic. In Arizona's Maricopa County, where the county government is responsible for distri- bution, the vaccine rollout was described by one physician as "a bit disorganized and ripe for exploitation," according to NPR. ough the county surveyed healthcare workers and tried to prioritize them for the vaccine, many are scrambling to find workarounds, accord- ing to the report. n COVID-19 immunity can last up to 8 months, studies suggest By Mackenzie Bean C OVID-19 patients may maintain immunity to the virus for up to eight months after initial infection, according to two studies published Dec. 22. For the first study, published in Science Immunology, Austra- lian researchers took repeat blood samples from 25 COVID-19 patients from day four to day 242 after infection. Every patient had memory B cells up to eight months after infection, which are immune cells that trigger antibody production if re-ex- posed to the virus. "These results are important because they show, definitively, that patients infected with the COVID-19 virus do in fact retain immu- nity against the virus and the disease," senior author Menno van Zelm, PhD, a researcher at Monash University's department of im- munology and pathology in Melbourne, said in a news release. The second study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseas- es, assessed antibody responses in 58 COVID-19 patients in South Korea who had asymptomatic or mild cases between March 5 and April 9. Researchers measured antibody levels using four commercial immunoassays. Results from three immunoassays showed antibody levels were still high eight months after infection. "Rates differed according to immunoassay methods or man- ufacturers, thereby explaining differences in rates [from past studies]," the researchers said, which suggested antibody lev- els waned after two to three months. n 'I got my COVID-19 vaccine' stickers may sway others to get vaccinated, experts say By Erica Carbajal T he CDC designed two COVID-19 vaccine stick- ers and communication experts say wearing them could encourage others to get vaccinat- ed, CNN reported Dec.15. "I definitely think that public health swag has some weight," said Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist and science communication lead of The Atlantic's COVID-19 Tracking Project. "The flu vaccine band aid has become iconic. Something similar like a button or a sticker, would be something that I would personally wear proudly." A COVID-19 vaccine sticker trend could communicate to the public that a new page is turning against the backdrop of mask wearing, Ms. Rivera told CNN. "If people are just walking around with their masks, it's normal for 2020," she said. "If you start seeing a growing trend of people wearing stickers, that could start giving you some excitement that things are hap- pening, people are getting protected and we might be getting closer and closer to the end of this." Despite the promise of stickers, experts said edu- cational campaigns will be needed to overcome vaccine hesitancy. n

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