Covid-19 Vaccines Remain Elusive for Many Doctors, Health Care Workers; More than half of U.S. physicians aren't employed by a hospital, which makes it difficult to get vaccinated
Cynthia Crawford-Green, a Maryland cardiologist, checked the vitals of a patient on Thursday. Like many doctors she has had trouble getting vaccinated for the coronavirus. PHOTO: Alyssa Schukar for The Wall Street Journal
Eligible health-care workers are getting Covid-19 vaccinations across the country, with many now receiving their second doses. But a large swath of private doctors and health workers not associated with a hospital system say they are struggling to locate the shots.
Many say they lack information about how or when they might acquire the vaccine. Others have spent hours calling public-health authorities, hospitals and colleagues, sharing information on Facebook and even tweeting at medical associations in search of answers.
"Do they even know we exist?" asked Kevin Schmidt, a self-employed physical therapist in Oregon who says he has received no information about the vaccine from either the government or trade groups.
Most doctors and front-line staff affiliated with hospitals have received shots, but many physicians and front-line workers at independent practices have been left in limbo, according to Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the Medical Group Management Association. About 54% of doctors in the U.S. work at physician-owned private practices, according to the American Medical Association.
The U.S. is weeks into a massive vaccination program that health officials say must proceed as rapidly as possible if the country is to forestall more deaths from Covid-19 and return life to something resembling normalcy. But as guidance from the federal government is implemented differently at the state, local and even facility levels, it is slowing the process and sowing confusion among those seeking the vaccine.
Hospitals have prepared for months for the vaccination onslaught, working hand-in-hand with state health authorities while creating scheduling systems, protocols and prioritization lists for who among their staff should be vaccinated first.
"It's hard to talk about it without getting emotional," said Becky Fox, chief nursing informatics officer at Atrium Health in Charlotte, N.C. Atrium has vaccinated more than 10,000 people, including Ms. Fox. "Yesterday, I got to vaccinate my mom," she said.
Meanwhile, those in private and solo practice say they have been left in the dark. One doctor in Massachusetts discovered that in her state, unaffiliated doctors are in line behind first responders, a group that includes firefighters, police and emergency-medical service providers.
Kaveri Karhade, a California dermatologist with offices in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties who isn't associated with a medical system, said she called hospitals in both counties to try to get a vaccine and was turned away. Meanwhile, her physician's assistant sister-in-law in San Diego called a nearby hospital and was told to come down to get vaccinated.
In various Facebook groups Dr. Karhade belongs to, unaffiliated doctors have been sharing information about how to sign up to get vaccinated and swapping sometimes-conflicting information about the process across counties.
"For those in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, I just got an email with info regarding getting the Covid-19 vaccine if unaffiliated with a hospital. Hope the link works!" posted one doctor. Others responded that it wasn't possible to get vaccinated yet in their counties or that they needed a password they hadn't received.
"It doesn't make sense that every county is different from each other," said Dr. Karhade. She said her work performing procedures related to skin abnormalities often means she spends lengthy periods with unmasked patients. "I have a 4-month-old baby at home, and my two older parents."
While the federal government has provided guidance to states about which groups to prioritize for the vaccine, how to locate and get the word out to those groups has fallen to local communities, to varying degrees of sophistication and success.
The Department of Health and Human Services in Montgomery County, Md., will soon receive doses for health-care workers not affiliated with hospitals, said spokeswoman Mary Anderson. But finding the workers and informing them about vaccine distribution has been scattershot.
Ms. Anderson's staff?already dealing with staffing both testing and vaccination sites?sent a letter to the county medical society, hoping to inform its roughly 1,600 members. They put a link on the health department's vaccine page and are trying to get a full list of licensed physicians from the state licensing board, along with a distribution list?so far without luck.
Her staff also is locating urgent-care offices, dialysis centers and other private health facilities with Internet searches and fielding phone calls and emails from health-care workers unsure about where to turn.
"We've had a bit of a challenge," she said.
The department is asking people to bring a work ID or document from their employer to prove they are a health-care worker, she said, after a nearby hospital discovered that more than 2,000 people who weren't health-care workers had signed up for vaccine appointments. Hospital staff had shared the internal link with friends and family, she said.
Cynthia Crawford-Green, a cardiologist with a solo practice in nearby Prince George's County, Md., said she spent 30 minutes over the weekend trying to figure out how to get vaccinated. Friends associated with major hospitals are all getting vaccinated, she added.
Dr. Crawford-Green said friends associated with big hospitals have been given the vaccine while she has struggled to be inoculated. PHOTO: Alyssa Schukar for The Wall Street Journal
"We're right in our nation's capital and the distribution has been awful for unaffiliated physicians," Dr. Crawford-Green said. "It's kind of like unless you are a part of any medical corporations around here, you're invisible. The rest of us are like, what's next?"
On Wednesday, she received an email about two vaccination time slots available in a Maryland county where she no longer practices. She signed up but may not make it since it is during her workday?another obstacle for medical workers who can't be vaccinated at their place of work.
Lauren Hedde, a primary-care physician in Rhode Island who isn't affiliated with a hospital, said she has been frustrated to see that non-patient-facing workers at hospitals are getting the vaccines while she and others like her stand by.
A spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Health said the state is focusing on the highest-risk settings and occupations.
"So the IT guy at the hospital is higher risk than a primary-care physician testing Covid-positive patients?" Dr. Hedde said. "This type of reply is difficult to swallow."
Holy Cross Health in Florida's Broward County opened its doors to vaccinate health-care workers located outside the hospital. Gil Lichtshein, 52, a psychiatrist with offices in Boca Raton and Miami, said he heard about the vaccinations there from someone at the local college where he is a faculty member, arrived at 5:30 a.m. and found 20 people already were in front of him.
"When I was in line there were dentists, psychologists?behind me was a medical assistant," he said.
In Chicago, Rahul Khare, an emergency room doctor who owns Innovative Express Care, a private urgent-care chain with nine centers including four testing sites for Covid-19, said he has been unable to locate vaccines for his 300 front-line workers. His chain handles a daily flow of about 2,500 people getting tested for the coronavirus.
Dr. Khare said the city had asked him to fill out a form Dec. 15 to get his workers on a list to be vaccinated, but repeated calls to the city have gone unreturned. Earlier this week, one of his workers tested positive for Covid-19.
Andrew Buchanan, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said the city has created a web page that lays out the process and recently opened its first vaccination location for health workers outside of hospitals.
Dr. Khare said that after The Wall Street Journal contacted the city Wednesday night, a city official called him to say the vaccines would be on the way next week.
On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that vaccinations would begin soon for the next tier, which includes first responders, education workers such as teachers and support staff, child-care workers, grocery store employees and postal service workers, but Dr. Khare said he has yet to learn how to vaccinate his employees who were eligible for the first doses.
"How horrible would it be if one of my employees got hospitalized or, God forbid, died, when we have access to the vaccine?" he said. "I have colleagues who are getting their second dose."