Primary Care Doctors Are Left Out of the Vaccine Rollout

[left-of-center2012]

Primary care doctors have grown increasingly frustrated with their exclusion from the nation’s vaccine rollout, unable to find reliable supplies for even their eldest patients and lacking basic information about distribution planning for the shots.

“The centerpiece should be primary care,” said Dr. Wayne Altman, the chairman of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine who also sees patients in Arlington, Mass. State officials there are using Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium as mass vaccination sites, rather than ensuring practices like his can inoculate patients who are at high risk from the coronavirus.

“If you distribute the vaccine to all these practices and let them go at their pace, it would accelerate this rollout dramatically,” Dr. Altman said. There are roughly 500,000 primary care doctors in the United States, who have traditionally administered nearly half of all adult vaccinations, inoculating their patients against pneumonia, flu and other infectious diseases. While most physician offices can’t handle storage for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because of its need for special freezers, doctors say they could easily administer the Moderna vaccine with adequate storage measures as well as some of the others likely to become available soon.

“We’re ready,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kozak, an internist in Grand Rapids, Mich. She was approved in early January to deliver the Moderna vaccine. “We haven’t seen a thing, but we’re ready.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/health/covid-doctors-vaccine.html

[AZSkiffyGeek]

1. My primary care opened up appointments last week

They went in less than an hour.

[SoCalNative]

3. My primary care

has been giving the vaccine since day one. They don't get a lot of doses, but they are available.

[hlthe2b]

2. Large volume multi-site practices can readily handle anyof the vaccines. The problem is....

a lot of very small clinics that have had issues with storage and handling of even routine vaccines are requesting allotments. I can point to failures of vaccines due to improper handling in such sites--modified live virus vaccines as MMR as but one example of this problem in the past. Once J&J is more available, it should go to them, but until then, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines need to be sent where they can be assured of proper storage and administration.

[Autumn]

4. We got ours from our primary care physician in Feb.

[hamsterjill]

5. My primary care doesn't keep any vaccines on hand

It’s a major negative for her as far as I’m concerned. I think she doesn’t want the cost of keeping an inventory.

As the vaccines become more widely available, I hope primary care doctors will be included more. A lot of people would feel more comfortable getting the vaccine in a medical office as opposed to a mega-site in my opinion.

[jimfields33]

6. Im sure primary care doctors would love this

A copay to see the doctor is always welcome. I doubt they’d do this for free. I think the way it’s being done is perfect.

[seaglass]

7. Well there is an admin fee being charged to insurance though I'm not sure how much it is.

It takes 6 months to get an appointment for a physical with my doctor, I'm not sure how quickly they could have handled the roll out.

I hope they are involved in the boosters because I don't think the current method is sustainable at all.

[hamsterjill]

10. Exactly.

It’s quite easy to get in to my primary care doctor, and they could and should certainly be paid for administering the vaccine. I know not all are easy access and I see your point.

I agree with you in that the current roll out is not sustainable. At some point in time, PCP’s will be the ones advising their patients individually on the need for boosters, etc. There’s just no other way. Because people will want to know how their individual health issues may be impacted.

For me, I’d personally rather go to my doctor instead of a mega-site.

[seaglass]

13. I know all the info is not out yet, but if it is the case that Pfizer lasts for 6 months that's a

hell of a lot of people who will need boosters by this fall. I am hoping there is advance planning for quicker distribution which should mean that physicians have access to it.

[LanternWaste]

12. "I don't understand how we should have a say in what other professions love..."

[Bettie]

8. Our primary care provider has

been doing vaccines all along.

We are a rural county though, so maybe that was simply most efficient.

As groups opened up they sent text messages or called people to get them signed up.

[leftstreet]

9. "The centerpiece should be primary care." Nonsense

That would only be effective with a national healthcare society

Under for-profit healthcare not everyone has a primary care doc

[RobinA]

11. I Think It Could

have been one of the options. Particularly for older people who aren't used to standing on 2 hour lines outside the megaClinic. They are much more comfortable at their primary doctor if they have one. They were probably about 30 when they had to stand in the polio line, and their backs and knees hurt less.