Primary care doctors are being left behind in the vaccine rollout

Primary care doctors are being left behind in the vaccine rollout Many primary care doctors are not affiliated with hospitals, which means they have no direct link to vaccine distribution at this stage. Olivia Goldhill STAT

In March, Marc Price set up a tent outside his primary care practice in Malta, N.Y., where he and his colleagues could don their protective gear to see the daily stream of coronavirus patients. Three weeks ago, the tent was finally upgraded to a shed ahead of snowstorms. But, despite months of constant close contact with Covid-19 patients, staff at the practice have yet to be vaccinated.

“I’m still waiting for my turn,” said Price.

He is not alone among primary care physicians, many of whom are not affiliated with hospitals and so have no direct link to vaccine distribution at this stage. “The rollout so far has been heartbreaking to witness from the standpoint of primary care,” said Emily Maxson, chief medical officer at Aledade, a company that works with more than 7,300 providers across 27 states.

Many are angry and frustrated and fed up, frankly. They’re absolutely downtrodden,” she said.

Primary care doctors are included with tier 1a, the first group designated to receive vaccines as laid out by federal guidance. These physicians have been severely affected by the pandemic; one study of more than 1,000 health care deaths in May found that primary care doctors made up the highest percentage of physician deaths within that group. ...

Only 23% of primary care clinicians know where they’ll get a vaccine from, according to a survey of more than 1,400 such doctors from Dec. 11 to 15 by the Larry A. Green Center with the Primary Care Collaborative. “More than three quarters don’t even know where they’re getting the vaccine,” said Ann Greiner, chief executive of the Primary Care Collaborative. These doctors should be vaccinated to fully support patients, she added: “We really want to keep patients out of the emergency room, for obvious reasons.” ...