NJ family doctors: Give us COVID vaccine — we can distribute it faster to most vulnerable

Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com

Every day, Dr. Thomas Ortiz and his colleagues see about 100 mostly working-class Latino patients at Forest Hill Family Health Associates in Newark.

And every day, Ortiz sees 100 missed opportunities to inoculate an underserved community that is getting only about 5% of New Jersey's COVID-19 vaccine doses.

"Giving us access to the vaccine means it gets to the people who need it the most," Ortiz said. "We work where our patients live. They have easy access to us. They know us. They trust us."

Ortiz is among many physicians frustrated that Gov. Phil Murphy's initial vaccine rollout has not included more family providers to inoculate the elderly and other vulnerable groups vying with millions of other New Jerseyans to get the most coveted product in the world.

Murphy has often said he would like to see all medical providers have the vaccine but the supply is too scarce for wide distribution.

Walter Koenig of Clifton, receives a vaccine from medical assistant Gina Andelora at the COVID -19 drive-thru clinic at Vanguard Medical Group in Verona on 02/11/21.

"As supply increases and new vaccines are approved, there will be opportunities to expand the network of vaccine providers — including physician groups," said Nancy Kearney, a spokeswoman for the Health Department. 

Two groups — the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians and the Medical Society of New Jersey — have petitioned Murphy and the state Health Department to send more vaccines to their thousands of members. 

Of the 1,773 providers that have been approved to receive the vaccine, 575 are medical practices. But only a few large family providers, such as Riverside Medical Group of Secaucus and Vanguard Medical Group of Verona, have gotten the vaccine, because of the limited supply. 

The 300 vaccine sites currently operating in New Jersey are mostly community-based providers, including six mega-sites that see thousands each day, and such retail establishments as ShopRite, CVS and Rite Aid. 

Providers were chosen based on where the greatest need was, whether they had a plan to start inoculations in December and whether they had the storage capacity to handle cold chain vaccine, Kearney said.

Doctors' groups admit that even the largest practices can't match the volume of shots given at the mega-sites, but they say they have other advantages.

"Primary care practices can, without question, get shots in the right arms and target their most high-risk and vulnerable patients," said Claudine Leone, a lawyer with the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians.

Dose-by-dose:These charts show where the most COVID vaccines have been given in NJ

COVID variants:With little lab capacity, NJ health officials are flying blind on spread of COVID variants

More vaccine sites:Community clinics will distribute COVID vaccine in 10 cities to help close racial gap

New Jersey's vaccine rollout has had problems beyond supply. Among them:

Almost half of New Jersey's 22,000 deaths have been among those 80 and older. But only 13% of that age group had been fully vaccinated with two shots as of Monday, more than two months into the rollout. About 33% of people 65 to 79 have received one dose, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said. 

Dr. Roger Thompson, of the Family Practice of Middletown in Monmouth County, said he could inoculate hundreds of his elderly patients each day if he had the vaccine.

He reached out in the fall to everyone from Persichilli to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's foremost authority on infectious diseases, in an attempt to get doses. His practice even bought a special freezer to store the Pfizer vaccine. 

Along with having difficulty landing online appointments, those seniors who do get them sometimes have to travel long distances to the only provider they could find.

Story continues below the graph.

"It's not a pleasant experience at that age," Thompson said. "They can’t sit in a car for three hours, because they have to pee because they’re 90 years old. They want to go to our office and have Maria give them their vaccines, because Maria has been giving them their flu vaccines for years."

Louise Galleshaw, 77, has tried to get an appointment for her 84-year-old husband and herself at all hours of the day for weeks, using the various online portals, but so far has struck out. 

Feeling left out:Seniors accounted for 80% of NJ's COVID deaths. But many feel abandoned in vaccine rollout

Push to reopen schools:Time is running out to vaccinate teachers and reopen schools, Montclair leaders say

"I was sorry family doctors or specialists that older people go to didn’t get the vaccine," said Galleshaw, of Leonia. "We better go back to the drawing board for more organized solutions." 

Among those who can't get to a vaccine site is Teresa Thompson, 77, who fractured her pelvis in mid-January and is confined to her Fair Lawn home for eight to 12 weeks. Under the current system, she has nowhere to turn.

"I am very anxious to have my vaccine, having visiting nurses and physical therapists coming into my home," she said. 

Health officials said mobile distribution will begin when the supply increases. 

But Ortiz said he could vaccinate his homebound patients immediately if he had received even a small number of vaccine doses. "We had been providing home care prior to the pandemic, so it would be pretty easy for us to get it to them," he said. 

Ortiz said he's going to continue to press officials to get the vaccine as soon as possible. 

Latinos are 2.3 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Only 5% of New Jersey’s 1.7 million vaccine doses have gone to Latinos, who make up 21% of the state's population. New Jersey’s demographic data is not precise, with 33% of doses having gone to those marked as either “Other” or “Unknown.”

Despite not having the vaccine, Ortiz has become an unofficial spokesman for public health officials in parts of New Jersey's Latino community. He has taken to Spanish-language newspapers, social media groups and streaming videos to advocate on behalf of vaccination. 

"There are those who are never going to get vaccinated," he said. "They don’t trust them. They will never use them. Fine. But there’s a group that just doesn’t have enough information about the vaccine. That’s the group I’m trying to get through to. I want them to know how much the benefits outweigh the risk.”

Scott Fallon covers the environment for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news about how New Jersey’s environment affects your health and well-being,  please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: fallon@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @newsfallon