Complete survey to identify COVID vaccine eligibility

Dear Members of the Baylor College of Medicine Community:

A few updates on the COVID-19 vaccine. Please review yesterday’s longer communication for additional background.

Current guidelines from the State Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel (EVAP) limits provision of vaccine to individuals meeting 1A criteria.

Baylor next steps:

• Complete your vaccination survey. The following survey has been created for all members of the Baylor community to assess your interest in receiving vaccination when eligible by EVAP criteria. If you are a member of the Baylor community (faculty, staff, employees, students), please complete the survey.
• When we have vaccine available, we will begin to vaccinate employees and learners who fall in the 1A category, a task our affiliate hospitals have already been engaged in for the past week. The earliest the Baylor-based vaccination process will begin is Monday, Dec. 28. If you are eligible, you will receive an email directed specifically to you.
• When the state give us permission to vaccinate the 1B category (per the latest DSHS press release, “it will likely be at least a few weeks”), we will begin offering vaccines to 1B patients and Baylor employees.

The EVAP substantially altered the weekend recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) regarding Phase IB allocation for the state of Texas. The new EVAP 1B allocation criteria are as follows:

Texas Phase 1B COVID-19 Vaccine Priorities

• People 65 years of age and older
• People 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition that puts them at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19, such as but not limited to:
  • Cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
  • Solid organ transplantation
  • Obesity and severe obesity (body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Full information is available.

Please look to my messages for more details as available.

James T. McDeavitt, M.D.