Tester says he's concerned VA has yet to release its full distribution plan, and he specifically wants to know how VA plans to reach its staff and veterans in rural areas.
So that's Pfizer and Moderna for VA, potentially and pending approval, of course.
Reminder that these vaccines typically require 2 doses.
73,000 of Pfizer and 120,000 of Moderna is "not enough" Stone says, with at least 7 million veterans expected to get the vaccine (of the roughly 9M VA treats) and nearly 400,000 VA staff.
"It is not an adequate amount, and this will be a long process to reach all 7 million veterans who we believe will want a vaccine from us, as well as all 400,000 VA employees," Stone says.
VA is not part of the Immunization Information System through CDC which helps track vaccinations, @SenBillCassidy says.
Stone says VA will connect with the system if needed.
@SenBillCassidy Cassidy asks Stone if it's unions standing in the way of VA inspecting state veterans homes. Stone said that's "absolutely incorrect information" and VA has been inspecting those facilities, though more limited during the pandemic, and with a major contract recently expired.
@SenBillCassidy .@SenBlumenthal expresses condolences for the death of 2 in a steam pipe explosion at a Connecticut VA Medical Center. OSHA is completing that investigation, Stone says.
Background: radio.com/connectingvets…
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal "We are the safety net to this system," Stone says of American healthcare, especially in rural and remote areas where private hospitals are going out of business and veterans need care -- along with non-veterans during emergencies like pandemics.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal Senators are concerned that since several of these vaccines require low temps and special refrigeration/freezing, how VA will deliver them to rural areas. Stone says VA is aware of those issues and working on them.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal That includes flying doses of vaccines into rural areas directly, Stone said.
"I believe we're going to need that kind of creativity and innovation to deliver this effectively and quickly."
Says VA has 37 freezers in hub locations ready and ordered 36 more.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal A total of 188 VA facilities are prepared to accept/administer the Moderna vaccine, Stone said. 122,000 doses ordered.
37 sites for the Pfizer vaccine. 73,000 doses ordered.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal "I don't think it's going to cover the entire nation in the way that it should," Stone says of the VA vaccine sites identified so far.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal Cold storage is clearly going to be one of the most significant challenges VA and other providers will face in getting these vaccines out across the country. Hope our supplies of dry ice is in good shape. (Stone said VA expanded its contracts for just that recently.)
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal The Pfizer vaccine requires colder storage than the Moderna vaccine, which could make it key for delivering to more remote areas.
"I'm going to need the Moderna vaccine in order to reach the rural veteran," Stone said.
This looks like it will be a key challenge for VA.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal Though VA received nearly $20 billion more for pandemic response in March (radio.com/connectingvets…), Stone says VA will need more money for vaccine distribution and for care costs. Says he believes VA is weeks away from another peak in active COVID-19 cases.
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal A reminder that VA has been sending out more and more reminders to veterans about this every day: The department delayed collection of copays/debts during the pandemic, but those bills are coming due very soon:
@SenBillCassidy@SenBlumenthal .@DeptVetAffairs released its latest COVID-19 report showing that once again, hospitalizations are up.
As of Dec. 1-7, 1,206 VA patients were hospitalized because of the coronavirus, up from 1,055 the week prior.
Also: VA has administered 1,065,712 COVID tests so far.
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Really sitting with this tonight and I think what sticks out more than anything is that VA didn’t take any action against the man (a VA contractor) with a history of abusing women (VA staff) but focused seemingly all it’s attention on discrediting the victim.
I know this isn’t a revelation to anyone, really. But it’s disturbing that it appears there wasn’t much concern that a man with a track record of sexual harassment potentially escalated to violence against a woman in a hospital in broad daylight around witnesses and cops.
There was so little concern, that VA police didn’t run his background check until 2 days after they ran one on the alleged victim and shared it with VA senior leaders.
But it follows some of the things these veterans and VA staffers told me: radio.com/connectingvets…
New: @VetAffairsOIG found in a nearly yearlong review that Secretary Wilkie and his staff disparaged and sought to discredit a veteran and Congressional advisor who reported a sexual assault at the D.C. VA hospital.
@VetAffairsOIG The @VetAffairsOIG was unable to substantiate that SecVA Wilkie investigated, or asked his staff to investigate the veteran, but did find evidence he and his staff made comments that attempted to discredit her, accusing her of a history of complaints. radio.com/connectingvets…
The good news is there's some incredibly encouraging researching being done by VA experts that could pave the way for a cure: radio.com/connectingvets…
Vets who have Gulf War Illness should be cautious during the pandemic. They may be at elevated risk for complications. radio.com/connectingvets…
If you'll let me, I'd like to interrupt your TLs for a moment to talk to you about Pat Duva, a 29-year-old Marine veteran who is dying of a rare brain cancer, and whose family asked me to help share his story. connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…@USMC
Pat is a history nerd and wanted to be a teacher. You'd want him on your trivia team. He from Jersey and fancies himself a pizza connoisseur. He turned down full college scholarships to become a Marine after watching the 9/11 terrorist attacks firsthand. connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
"Pat always said, 'I went into the Marine Corps a healthy 18-year-old and I came out with all of these issues,'" his sister told me. "He felt in his heart that if he never joined, he would not have had the cancer. But he would not have changed anything." connectingvets.radio.com/articles/29-ye…
This is all VA officials would tell me:
"VA always encourages veterans to order routine prescriptions in advance. When it comes to emergent prescriptions, VA fills them onsite or uses commercial carriers to ensure timely delivery."
New from @USGAO: In January 2017, Trump said he and VA would consult private citizens to help address VA issues. This raised questions about influence on VA’s decisions.
GAO found interactions between VA officials and private citizens in 2016 and 2018. gao.gov/products/GAO-2…
@USGAO VA officials communicated with these 3 men with connections to the president about:
- Contract for a $16B electronic health record system
- Mobile app development
- Suicide prevention campaign
- Medical device registry
- Personnel decisions, including Under Secretary for Health