AOA advocates for OD participation in COVID-19 vaccination process
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With the impending availability of a vaccine for COVID-19, the American Optometric Association is advocating for optometrists to be involved the vaccination process.
“As a nationwide response to the pandemic and the need to prepare for a huge public health campaign to vaccinate Americans, government policy leaders are recommending that states evaluate and expand their health care teams with regard to the provision of vaccinations,” AOA President William T. Reynolds, OD, told Primary Care Optometry News. “The Department of Health and Human Services recently released guidance to states specifically recommending that states, ‘Assess the provider types that can administer immunizations in your state. Consider whether there should be expansions of providers, including mass immunizers.’”
He noted that providing vaccinations is part of the scope of practice for optometrists in California.
“As the nation’s focus pivots to the promise of a COVID‐19 vaccine, doctors of optometry can serve as a critical resource and support to states as they develop immunization plans and protocols,” Reynolds said. “The more than 46,000 doctors of optometry who deliver more than 80% of primary eye care in America are well positioned to increase the public’s access to immunizations.”
Additionally, Reynolds penned a letter on behalf of the AOA and its state affiliates to the CDC advocating for optometrists and their staff members be included among health care personnel who are prioritized to receive the vaccine during the phase 1a program.
“Throughout the pandemic, our doctors have been providing eye health and vision care to patients across our country,” he wrote. “With the COVID-19 vaccination potentially being administered as early as this year, the [CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’] recommendations are of critical importance to state public health officials as they continue the challenging work of developing plans to administer newly released vaccines.”
Reynolds noted data that showed a 300% increase in ODs reporting that they or their staff had been diagnosed or tested positive for COVID-19 during a 3-month period from June to September.
“Doctors of optometry are the primary care doctors of the eye and visual system who practice in settings which are very accessible to at-risk populations,” he wrote. “Our doctors have played, and continue to play, a high-risk front-line role in supporting Americans throughout the current public health emergency.”
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