Science
Algorithm placed only seven medical residents on the original list of vaccine delivery for COVID-19 in Stanford Medicine.
According to a 17 December letter from Stanford Medicine's Chief Resident Council, the algorithm that decided which Stanford Medicine workers would receive their 5,000 initial doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had only seven medical residents/students on the list. Since then the leadership of Stanford Medicine has apologised and vowed to re-evaluate the proposal.
We are fully responsible for the errors in the execution of our vaccine distribution plan, the spokeswoman for Stanford Medicine said in a statement to The Verge. Our goal was to create an ethical and fair mechanism for the delivery of vaccines. We apologise to our whole society, including our tenants, fellows, and other primary care providers, who have served heroically during our pandemic response. We are urgently revising our strategy for a better sequencing of vaccine delivery.
In response to the letter received by the Chief Resident Council, the original proposal led to protests by medical personnel.
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
Stanford's decision to de-prioritize residents and fellows is defenseless on the basis of science, rationale, ethics and equality, the letter said. (ProPublica hosted a complete letter on DocumentCloud.) Many of us know of senior faculty who have served from home since the pandemic started in March 2020 with little in-person obligation for patients who have been chosen for vaccination. In the meantime, we people and fellows are wearing N95 masks for the tenth month of this pandemic without a simple and open plan for our safety in place.
The letter from the citizens also alleges that a flaw in the formula had been noticed on Tuesday but that the leadership had decided not to "revise the allocation scheme" until its publication on 17 December.
Here's how the algorithm was stated to operate, according to the NPR:
According to an email sent by a chief resident to other residents, Stanford’s leaders explained that an algorithm was used to assign its first allotment of the vaccine. The algorithm was said to have prioritized those health care workers at highest risk for COVID infections, along with factors like age and the location or unit where they work in the hospital. Residents apparently did not have an assigned location, and along with their typically young age, they were dropped low on the priority list.
The administration of Stanford Medicine has sent an email to the workers on December 18, welcoming the original proposal and pledging improvements. We are working quickly to address the flaws in our plan and to develop a revised version, said Caroline Chen, a health care writer for ProPublica. We are optimistic that a large shipment of vaccines will arrive next week which will allow a large segment of our community to be vaccinated.
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
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. The vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech was approved on 11 December and the vaccine developed by Moderna was authorized on 18 December.
