Medical residents flooded Stanford Hospital on Friday in protest after executives there reportedly used a faulty algorithm to triage its first wave of vaccinations and overwhelmingly left out caregivers working on the front lines of the covid-19 pandemic.
Of Stanford Medicine’s roughly 1,300 residents, just seven were chosen to be among the first 5,000 employees in line to receive the new Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, ProPublica reports. A letter to hospital executives that was signed by residents and reviewed by Ars Technica claimed that high-ranking doctors and senior faculty who have worked remotely since March made the list while just 0.5% of residents were selected for vaccination. And just to add insult to injury, this decision came the same week that residents were asked to volunteer for shifts in the Intensive Care Unit — where they’d likely work in close contact with covid-19 patients — as the hospital braces for an anticipated spike in cases, ostensibly because of the holiday season.
There is an enormous demonstration going on at @Stanford Hospital right now carried out by staff, who are protesting the decision by higher ups to give vaccines to some administrators and physicians who are at home and not in contact with patients INSTEAD of frontline workers. pic.twitter.com/WXVkPR46eU
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) December 18, 2020
In a ProPublica interview, Sarah Johnson, an OB-GYN resident who has delivered babies from covid-19 patients, called this “the final straw” for hospital staff already feeling worn out and overlooked after routinely risking exposure during an international health crisis.
“Residents are patient-facing, we’re the ones who have been asked to intubate, yet some attendings who have been face-timing us from home are being vaccinated before us,” she told the outlet. “This is the final straw to say, ‘We don’t actually care about you.’”
NEW: Stanford used an algorithm to decide who got the #COVID #vaccine first, and the result was only 7 of the first 5,000 slots went to residents… the same week they were asked to volunteer for ICU coverage in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 cases.https://t.co/tupAeyHudx pic.twitter.com/gr5CaPoV7G
— Caroline Chen (@CarolineYLChen) December 18, 2020
Residents called for Stanford executives to “vaccinate the frontline” as protests erupted both inside and outside the hospital on Friday. Dozens brandished signs with messages like “First in the room. Back of the line” and “#Healthcare hero. Support is zero.”
Stanford came up with an algorithm to “ethically” chose who would be first to get vaccinated, but design flaws apparently put residents at a disadvantage from the get-go. Medical school grads are typically required to complete some sort of residency program before they can obtain their medical licence where they work under the supervision of other physicians. Because the position is temporary, residents don’t have an assigned “location” to “plug into the calculation” that determines who would be first in line for the vaccine, a chief resident explained in an email to his peers. And they tend to be younger, he added, which also made them less likely to make the cut, presumably because older people have a higher risk to develop severe complications from the virus.
Hospital executives admitted they screwed up in a statement to NBC:
“Our intent was to roll out an ethical and equitable plan for the entire organisation, and there were flaws in that plan that we are actively trying to repair.”
In an email to staff, Stanford executives and deans apologised and said they’d discovered “significant gaps” in their development of a vaccine distribution plan. They went on to say that they’re working on correcting the plan, and anticipate being able to vaccinate “a substantial segment of our community” hopefully as soon as next week once a larger shipment of vaccines arrives. (The hospital did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.)
Residents are also calling for nurses, therapists, janitors, food service workers, and other essential staff that the algorithm may have overlooked to be included among those considered for the first round of vaccinations, NBC reports. And, ideally, they’d like a seat at the table as the hospital revises its plan.
I can’t even begin to imagine the frustration these residents must feel, risking their health and safety every day just to be brushed over when relief is finally in sight. And not to detract from their struggle, but the fact that their ages put them at a disadvantage for receiving the vaccine hit way too close to home for me as someone who has been immunocompromised basically their entire adult life. Hopefully, Stanford can make this right soon, because this pandemic has been going on for almost a year now and workers on the front lines have more than earned the right to skip the queue.