IID Director abuses position for personal privilege.
Public servant places self ahead of the public.
Supervisors address vaccination concerns
IVPress, Tom Bodus, 1/6/2021
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EL CENTRO – Imperial County’s Board of Supervisors responded Tuesday to reports that some persons may have received special treatment in the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccine.
The board voted 4-1 to remove medical providers from the vaccine provider list if they fail to follow protocols when administering the shots.
Supervisors reacted to reports on social media that some persons who would not appear to fit within the state’s allocation priority guidelines were receiving the vaccine ahead of their turn.
Specifically, the board was reacting to photos of Imperial Irrigation District Division 1 Director Alex Cardenas and local filmmaker Roy Dorantes receiving the vaccine Sunday at El Centro Regional Medical Center.
“The Imperial County Public Health Department and the County of Imperial have received a number of questions related to COVID Vaccine availability for the general population,” the department acknowledged in a statement Monday. “Please note that currently, the vaccine is being offered to those who qualify under Phase 1A Tier one which includes acute care, psychiatric behavioral health providers, skilled nursing facilities, first responders, correctional hospitals, dialysis centers, substance use disorder treatment facilities and special needs group living facilities.”
District 4 Supervisor Ryan Kelley said the board will not jump the line and will wait its turn, but he knows others are being vaccinated ahead of their turn. He specifically cited Cardenas.
“I am aware of one person that took advantage,” Kelley said. “They know what the priorities were and went in the opposite direction.”
Critical comments on Facebook included those of local Black Lives Matter leader Hilton Smith, who complained of favoritism being employed in the process. “While browsing through Facebook, I can clearly identify several individuals receiving the vaccine who are not in the medical field, first responders, or elderly!” Smith said. “Personality and Favoritism is clearly being displayed on who is receiving the vaccine, which I find disturbing and appalling.”
This newspaper contacted Dorantes and asked him how he and Cardenas came to be vaccinated Sunday. He explained they were present at the invitation of Dr. Tien Vo, of Vo Medical Center. Both men are involved in the clinic’s Meals to Heal program and regularly deliver free meals to quarantined COVID patients throughout the week. Dorantes said the program distributes about 60 meals per day.
Dorantes, who himself had been sick with COVID for more than a month last spring, said he didn’t know exactly how his regular contact with COVID patients fit within the vaccine plan, but when he was offered the chance to be inoculated, “I wasn’t going to say no.”
Monday’s statement from the health department indicated he was a little ahead of schedule. “Vaccine is not yet available for the general population,” ICPHD said. “There have been reports of local healthcare providers offering vaccine to volunteers that are not involved in direct patient care. It is important to note that community health workers are scheduled to receive their vaccine as part of Tier 2. Vaccination for Tier 2 has not yet started in Imperial County.”
Commenting at Tuesday’s board meeting, District 2 Supervisor Luis Plancarte agreed everyone should wait their turn for the vaccine, regardless of position. “Any provider not (adhering) to the rules reflects badly on this body,” he said. “We should make it very clear to what happens to the people who don’t follow the rules.”
District 5 Supervisor Ray Castillo, who cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday, favored providers being warned first.
County Health Officer Dr. Stephen Munday agreed. He said the health department will be sending out an advisory, but does not want to scare the providers who are administering the vaccine.
“We don’t want to start out too heavy,” he said. “I would like to couch it in a positive way.”
“I respectfully disagree,” Supervisor Vice Chairman Jesus Eduardo Escobar replied. He said strict guidelines help prevent division within the community. “We have to focus on that.”
ECRMC CEO Dr. Adolphe Edward was noticeably irritated with the controversy, pointing out the difficulty in policing every single person who may or may not be eligible for vaccination and that no roster of any kind was available to help.
As a result, the hospital was not allowing anyone within the vaccination clinic who did not possess an ECRMC badge as of early Tuesday afternoon.
Edward also expressed frustration with the pace at which the vaccine is being administered and said he believes the county should take a leadership role in the state in accelerating the distribution phases and getting the vaccine out where it is needed – to the general public – as quickly as possible.
“We need to stop rationing care,” he said.
Staff writer Michael Maresh contributed to this report.
Letter to the Editor: Wait Your Turn
By Andrew Arevalo
From the Desert Review, 1/6/2021
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My grandmother recently passed away after a heroic battle with COVID-19. At 94 years of age, with underlying conditions, and a longtime resident of a local assisted-living facility, my grandmother fully met the criteria for “recommended” populations to receive a priority vaccination under the Phase 1A distribution process as outlined by the California Department of Public Health. Unfortunately, our county has been disproportionally affected by COVID-19, and both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines that were recently granted emergency use authorization (EUA) under the FDA have solely been reserved for our frontline healthcare workers — as it should be.
Before her facility (i.e., or even its healthcare workers) could gain access to these life-saving vaccines, my grandmother developed pneumonia in both lungs and ultimately succumbed to the relentless onslaught brought on by this deadly disease. The reason I share this painful memory is because of recent social media posts involving a local elected official (and his cameraman) proudly showing off that they had received vaccines from a local medical provider. Ironically, neither of these individuals meet the criteria for priority vaccination as outlined in Phase 1A.
As an elected official, I currently do not qualify for a vaccine. As an elementary educator, I currently do not qualify for a vaccine. As someone who has longstanding friendships with multiple local medical providers, I currently do not qualify for a vaccine. And as a lifelong sufferer of severe, chronic asthma, I currently do not qualify for a vaccine.
My father and mother both taught me to stand in front of the vulnerable/elderly to protect them — not to “skip” in front of them, altogether. Your Facebook pictures, comments, and likes can wait; our most vulnerable subgroups simply can’t. People are dying, leaving gaping holes in families, like my own, across our community. I urge every other elected public official (and those who do not meet the criteria outlined in Phase 1A) to kindly wait your turn. Because one grandparent skipped in line by an eager politician potentially translates into another devastating loss for our already hemorrhaging community.
Signed,
Andrew Arevalo