{"id":49449,"date":"2021-01-08T22:56:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T05:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout-is-confusing-but-its-working-leaders-say\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:47:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:47:26","slug":"colorados-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout-is-confusing-but-its-working-leaders-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout-is-confusing-but-its-working-leaders-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s coronavirus vaccine rollout is confusing \u2014 but it\u2019s working, leaders say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gretta
Gretta Wyman, 88, received her first of two Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shots at the Della Cava Family Medical Pavilion in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. She received a card that documents her first shot that she must bring to the appointment when she is given the second dose of vaccine.<\/span>Steve Peterson\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On Thursday, Colorado Lt. Gov Dianne Primavera did what hundreds of thousands of Coloradans her age are wishing they could also do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in the wave that\u2019s getting the COVID vaccine,\u201d Primavera, who is 70 and a cancer survivor, said in a video posted to Facebook as she sat next to a health worker preparing to put a needle into her arm. \u201cI\u2019m excited to be here and I want to encourage everyone who is 70 to sign up, get vaccinated and let\u2019s see an end to this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost immediately, the comments on the post began filling up with stories of frustration from across the state, illustrating the turbulent way the coronavirus vaccine has rolled out..<\/p>\n

\u201cPueblo we don\u2019t even have a list for me to get on!\u201d one commenter wrote. \u201cI\u2019m 70+ and nothing from our health department!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also a cancer survivor and over 70 but on a wait list,\u201d another wrote.<\/p>\n

Months ago, Polis, medical experts and state public health officials mapped out an orderly plan prioritizing when different groups of Coloradans can get the vaccine. But as that plan \u2013 now twice revised \u2013 has been put to use, the on-the-ground reality so far has been much less orderly.<\/p>\n

\"A
A health care worker consults with Gretta Wyman, 88, before giving her the first of two Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Boulder on Monday.<\/span>Steve Peterson\/Special to The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Communities are winding their way through their own vaccination lines at dramatically different paces. Seniors in Summit and Eagle counties \u2013 among the wealthiest communities in the state and the healthiest in the nation \u2013 have already begun receiving shots, while hospitals and health departments in the Denver metro area largely don\u2019t yet have any vaccine to spare.<\/p>\n

Cherry Creek School District developed a partnership with Centura Health to access vaccines for its staff members beginning at the turn of the year, while other districts were left scrambling to come up with their own plans.<\/p>\n

But the emerging disparities are also unpredictable and don\u2019t necessarily match with an easy understanding of haves and have-nots. Among the first older Coloradans to receive the vaccine were seniors in the small, economically disadvantaged southern Colorado towns of San Luis and Center, after the state helped the communities stage drive-thru vaccination clinics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are exactly the kind of events we are looking to replicate across the state,\u201d Polis said gleefully during a Wednesday news conference. \u201cWe want to go where the need is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rural hospitals have been able to move faster at vaccinating their employees than large urban hospital systems. And some small hospitals, like the one in Hugo, have been able to secure enough vaccine to also inoculate people living in attached long-term care facilities, rather than waiting for a federal program that state officials have complained is moving too slowly in providing vaccinations to nursing homes.<\/p>\n

\"This
This chart shows Colorado&#x2019;s prioritization plan for allocating coronavirus vaccine, as of Dec. 30, 2020. The new plan moves Coloradans age 70 and older, as well as a host of essential workers including teachers, higher in priority.<\/span>Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Even as individual communities are left guessing about exactly how and when they\u2019ll be able to inoculate their own populations, state leaders have expressed confidence that Colorado\u2019s rollout will not lead to the same kind of persistent inequities that have made the pandemic so punishing for communities of color and the poor. Instead, they argue, everyone within the state\u2019s priority groups will have the chance to be vaccinated with their group. It just may take a few weeks or months to get to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think really the disparity is one of timing,\u201d said Julie Lonborg, a senior vice president at the Colorado Hospital Association. \u201cIn the end, everyone will get vaccinated who wants to. It\u2019s going to be a timing disparity, instead of a disparity of one group getting the vaccine and one group not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conflicting goals: Speed and order<\/div>\n

Colorado has been preparing for months to distribute coronavirus vaccines, but key variables remained uncertain throughout that long process.<\/p>\n

For one, the state was never sure how much vaccine it was going to get and when. And neither the state nor federal governments settled on a priority scheme until after vaccine doses were already on their way.<\/p>\n

Polis amended the state\u2019s prioritization plan on Dec. 9, just days before the first doses arrived. The Polis administration amended the plan again on Dec. 30 to change who would be next in line for vaccination in Phase 1b of the state\u2019s plan, after thousands of doses had already been given and some communities were fast approaching that phase. The second set of changes came after a federal committee issued new guidance on prioritization in mid-December \u2013 recommendations came after states had already assembled their own plans.<\/p>\n

In a news conference on Dec. 30, Polis declared, \u201cAny Coloradan 70 and up can now legally receive the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the changes caught hospitals, pharmacies and local public health agencies, which will do the grunt work of administering the vaccine, off guard. Some hospitals still haven\u2019t finished vaccinating all of their workers and aren\u2019t expected to do so until next week. Several local health agencies released statements saying they were still working through their plans for vaccinating older Coloradans.<\/p>\n

That confusion persisted into this week. On Tuesday, in response to questions from The Sun, Boulder County Public Health spokesperson Chana Goussetis said her agency had received verbal guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to treat Phase 1b like two sub-subphases. The guidance highlighted the location of a previously unexplained dotted line in a chart the state had distributed showing who is eligible to be vaccinated in the phase. CDPHE confirmed this later in the day, when it announced that first responders and those 70 and older should be vaccinated first, ahead of other groups also in Phase 1b, such as teachers.<\/p>\n

[html;80]<\/p>\n

As they were deluged by calls from older residents wanting to know how they could get vaccinated, local health agencies pleaded for patience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to reiterate that we are still on Phase 1a and early Phase 1b of residents who qualified for the previously approved tiers,\u201d Cali Zimmerman, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment\u2019s emergency management coordinator, wrote in an email. \u201cWith limited vaccine supply, we are working as quickly as possible to facilitate vaccine distribution to all qualifying residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, concerns began to grow both locally and nationally that vaccine distribution wasn\u2019t happening fast enough. As of this week, Colorado has received 243,000 doses of vaccine. Through Thursday, the state had reported vaccinating 138,607 people \u2013 a rate that Polis says puts Colorado among the top states in the nation but that still leaves a lot of doses so far unused.<\/p>\n

But Colorado health leaders say these two goals \u2013 vaccinating people in the order they deserve to be vaccinated and vaccinating people quickly \u2013 are in conflict. And that means Coloradans are going to have to be somewhat flexible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was all done with the intent that we are not going to waste a dose of vaccine,\u201d Lonborg, of the hospital association, said. \u201cIf we\u2019ve got it, we\u2019re going to find a way to vaccinate somebody who needs to be vaccinated. That\u2019s maybe a little more confusing than we had hoped for, but I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other leaders encouraged people to see the big picture. Colorado is receiving about 70,000 doses of vaccine a week. There are nearly 550,000 Coloradans age 70 and older who are eligible for vaccination in Phase 1b, along with 125,000 health care workers and first responders who are also in the phase\u2019s highest-priority level. It\u2019s a pretty serious bottleneck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have to tell you that people are anxious to return to some semblance of a normal life,\u201d said Bob Murphy, the Colorado state director for AARP, which represents older Americans.<\/p>\n

Doctor\u2019s offices, hospitals, pharmacies and health departments are all overwhelmed right now with people calling for information. He\u2019s heard a lot of frustration. He urged the federal government to provide more resources and vaccine manufacturers to move as fast as they safely can. But, as for the state\u2019s response?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, all things considered, it\u2019s going reasonably well,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

<URL destination=\u201dhttps:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2021\/01\/08\/colorado-coronavirus-vaccine-health-care-education-schools\/\u201d>Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/em><\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<URL destination=\u201dhttps:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2021\/01\/08\/colorado-coronavirus-vaccine-health-care-education-schools\/\u201d>Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disparities emerge as counties, schools and hospitals all chart their own paths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,685,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87585,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49449\/revisions\/87585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49449"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}