Erie County: Hospitals will be given vaccines to give to patients with comorbidities

Starting Monday, the state is greatly expanding eligibility for getting a Covid-19 vaccine by including people with a range of "comorbidities" that include heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity. In Erie County alone, up to half a million people may be eligible for a vaccine, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said earlier this week.

The health department consulted with "local infectious disease and medical experts" on how best to get the new allocation of vaccines to the people who need it the most and decided to distribute the vaccines directly to the hospitals.

"Hospitals will evaluate inpatients during their hospital stay and vaccinate those who are most at-risk due to one or more comorbidities. Hospitals will also identify outpatients with significant comorbidities, such as those accessing specialty clinics, and offer them Covid-19 vaccine," a statement from the health department said.

The county said it does not know yet how many vaccines it will be receiving from the state for people with comorbidities.

Local health systems responded to the new development.

"Catholic Health has been fortunate to partner with Erie County Executive Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Burstein throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and look forward to expanding our vaccine effort," said Mark Sullivan, Catholic Health's president and CEO. "We will work closely with other hospitals and medical providers in the region to ensure we take the most uniform and equitable approach, following guidance from the New York state and Erie County Department of Health, in vaccinating inpatients and outpatients with comorbidities throughout our system."

Kaleida Health said it is also preparing for expanded eligibility for Covid-19 vaccines.

“We are working with the Erie County Department of Health, our partner hospitals in the community, as well as our physician leadership to ensure that there is consistency on vaccination for those with comorbidities when it begins next week," said Michael Hughes, a Kaleida spokesman. "That said, there are still a lot of unknowns at this time such as exact information on quantities that we may receive or what the precise timeline of delivery will be. What we do know, however, is that this will be an extremely limited resource and that demand will quickly exceed supply. So this is expected to be a very long and evolving process.”

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center said it is "ready to vaccinate cancer patients and eligible members of our community.

"Many cancer patients who are undergoing active treatment may need input from their oncologist, and cancer centers around the country are advocating to serve as vaccination sites," Roswell Park said. "We are currently out of first doses of vaccine and have not heard that we will be receiving more, but we are hopeful that we can continue to provide vaccinations to all those eligible."

In a statement Saturday night, Erie County Medical Center said: "ECMC has been following NYSDOH guidelines on vaccinating 1A healthcare workers and we are prepared to vaccinate patients with comorbidities next week once we receive the designated vaccine allocation for this purpose. Our clinical vaccination team will coordinate closely with the Erie County Department of Health and ECMC’s physician and nursing leadership for this next vaccination phase."

The new allocation comes as the county is still rescheduling appointments that had to be canceled in January when the county ran out of doses. The county said as vaccine distribution expands, it may open appointments to people with comorbidities.

Also Saturday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York State residents with comorbidities will be able to use the state's vaccine eligibility website to sign up for an appointment starting at 8 a.m. Sunday.

To sign up through the state, you must provide one of the following: a doctor's letter, medical information evidencing comorbidity or signed certification.

Aside from the state's website, what opportunities are there for people with comorbidities to make appointments to receive Covid-19 vaccines?

"Certain Erie County hospitals will use this specific allotment next week to vaccinate inpatients with medical conditions that make them eligible for Covid-19 vaccine; it is our understanding that appointments will not be available for people with comorbidities to call and schedule at hospitals," said Kara Kane, a spokeswoman for the county health department.

And pharmacies are vaccinating people who are 65 or older.

The Buffalo News learned Friday that some Western New York health officials want to set up a priority ranking of the comorbidities and a preferred list of vaccine vendors for those who have those conditions.

"I've heard that they are interested in prioritizing, and I think that makes some sense," said Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "Not all comorbidities pose an equal risk for severity of disease with the new coronavirus."

Russo declined to share his opinion as to which disease sufferers should move to the head of the line.

"We're all in this together, right? There's no right or wrong answer," Russo said. "I would just make the general point that the risk for all cancer is not equal, the risk for all heart disease is not equal and the risk for obesity, since there's a spectrum, is not equal."

As far as proof of illness, New York State said a patient should have a doctor's letter, "medical information evidencing comorbidity" or a signed certification.

Niagara County will ask the patient to sign a form attesting to illness, said Daniel J. Stapleton, Niagara County public health director.

"Most counties are talking that same direction," Stapleton said.

"There was talk about having people bring the bottle of their prescription," Stapleton said. "We don't have time, we don't have capacity, we don't have a pharmacist to do all that, so we're doing a self-attestation form."

The state reported that Western New York’s seven-day average positivity rate for Covid-19 tests was 3.5% on Friday, down from 3.57% on Thursday. The statewide average positivity rate for Covid-19 tests was 3.9% on Friday, falling below 4% for the first time since Nov. 30.

The state said four Erie County residents died of Covid-19 on Friday, among 125 Covid-related deaths statewide.