Front-Line Doctors, Nurses Protest Stanford Coronavirus Vaccine Plan (+Video)

More than 100 Stanford Medical Center doctors held a raucous protest Friday, accusing the university of prioritizing the wrong health care workers to receive coronavirus vaccines ahead of residents and fellows who work directly with COVID-19 patients.

Protesters carried signs reading “Front line workers need protection” and “Health care heroes, back of the line,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported, as they first protested inside the medical center in Palo Alto and later gathered in the plaza outside.

The protesters had sent a letter to top Stanford officials arguing that only seven residents and fellows were included in the first round of vaccinations Friday, which Entwhistle said began with 3,900 doses. Protesters on site told The Chronicle that among those receiving vaccines were orthopedic surgeons, nurses treating outpatients and a dermatologist.Stanford Medical leadership responded with a letter, acknowledging there were “significant concerns” but that their plan to ensure “ethical and equitable” distribution of the vaccine had “significant gaps” that they will work to fix. The letter also urged patience and said another shipment of the vaccine will arrive next week.

“We’ll correct it. We know that it’s wrong,” President and CEO of Stanford Health David Entwistle told the demonstrators.

Residents are doctors who have finished medical school but must still complete three to seven years of training for a license in their specialty. Fellows have completed residency and are pursuing additional training in a particular medical field.

The letter said many residents know senior faculty who have worked from home since the beginning of the pandemic, “with no in-person patient responsibilities, who were selected for vaccination.”

On Friday, many of the protesters said they had heard from frontline residents and fellows at hospitals around the country, including UCSF, that they had already been vaccinated or were about to be.

Entwhistle explained that Stanford’s vaccine distribution algorithm followed the federal government’s guidance prioritizing health care workers and older employees.

Picking which of the 330-plus million Americans get the vaccine first has already sparked a heated debate over medical ethics. While people 65 and older are at the greatest risk of dying from the coronavirus, it appears the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has urged that “essential workers” be given priority, citing racial disparities.

Meanwhile, the US political leadership lined up to receive their vaccines on Friday, with Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) all posing for photos with medical personnel and praising the vaccine.

Under the Operation Warp Speed program directed by President Donald Trump, the US has developed two vaccines that claim to be over 90 percent effective against the virus, one made by Pfizer and the other by Moderna.