Pitt Med students: Give vaccine priority to smaller practices, pharmacies

We are a group of University of Pittsburgh medical students who are extremely concerned about vaccine distribution in the Pittsburgh community. It has come to our attention that vaccines are being sent only to large institutions such as health systems and retail pharmacies rather than the smaller, independent health practices and pharmacies which have been instrumental to community vaccination efforts thus far.

The Direct Care Physicians of Pittsburgh is one group of many who have received a small number (on the order of hundreds) of vaccines for weekly community clinics. DCPP clinics have been regularly featured on the local news networks; through their efforts, they have been able to vaccinate about 800 unaffiliated health care workers (including many Pitt med students) and high-risk or elderly Phase 1A community members.

Last week, many smaller pharmacies were unable to secure vaccines — including previously guaranteed second doses. Vaccines appear to be diverted to larger organizations in Western Pennsylvania, like UPMC and AHN, as it is believed larger organizations would be better equipped to handle vaccine administration. These organizations are great and will be able to get vaccines to the community, but at the risk of slower rates and at the risk of the more marginalized in our population.

It has been well documented that lack of targeted outreach into minority populations has hindered the trust that those communities have for the vaccine. Smaller clinics have been building back trust with these communities, particularly in majority Black, Latinx and immigrant neighborhoods within Pittsburgh and surrounding townships. Those of us who have volunteered at these community vaccine clinics have seen firsthand the gratitude of these community members. For many of them, it was the first time they had left their houses in almost a year. They lamented the struggles of trying to schedule through outside pharmacies and through larger organizations like UPMC. Those with support from younger family members were able to navigate online and phone scheduling systems, but those without family support found themselves left behind.

These smaller clinics are more accessible to the general community. By taking them away, we risk further marginalizing the most at-risk in our communities. We need to do better.

Most urgently, this situation is causing community clinics to not receive their previously guaranteed second doses. Any clinics without vaccine reserves have found themselves forced to cancel hundreds of second-dose appointments. For the DCPP clinic, this means approximately 400 people (including some of the medical students signed below) are unsure of when or where they will receive their second dose. One affected party is a group of nuns and priests who were vaccinated by the DCPP Feb. 7. Now, when this lovely group returns in four weeks, there may not be any second doses for them. The recent distribution decisions are directly impacting those most vulnerable in our community.

Our community members have suffered enough from this pandemic. We are asking that the Pennsylvania Department of Health prioritize sending second doses to the small practices and pharmacies who have already promised them to our community members so that our community does not suffer more.

This op-ed was signed by Rebecca Georgiadis, Alexis Hester, Koehler Powell, Sadie Longo, Maya Muenzer, Sabina Spigner, Sneha Patnaik, Rachel Fogel, Makenna Laffey, Mridula Dilip, Alexis Espinal, Maria Evankovich, Adam Eibel, Udit Modi, Annie McDermott, Diana Mendoza-Cervantes, Jill McDonnell, Ashley Whited, Sam Saloom, Karrin Rutledge, Sophie Wecht, Renusha Indralingam and Marie Schwalbe.