How Does Dallas County Determine Priority List For COVID-19 Vaccines?
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Shortage of vaccine is causing frustration. Demand is far exceeding supply. With the wait list in Dallas County as high as 300,000 people, how does the county identify the most vulnerable?
Steve Miff, president and CEO at Parkland Center For Clinical Innovation, says the software programs they've developed apply various factors to determine who makes the COVID-19 vaccine priority list. The algorithm looks at factors such as age and medical conditions as laid out by the state of Texas.
"We also we add elements that capture specifically employment, education, income, poverty, housing characteristics to ensure that the equitable component," he told CBS 11 News.
That is called the vulnerability index. It calculates the community's risk of contracting COVID-19.
The proximity index looks at data from patients that live close to confirmed COVID-19 cases
"The proximity index calculates and measures the disease burden, and that changes dynamically because it calculates based on geography, proximity of that individual to active cases," Miff said
"Once we do that, we add a column to that data that from the registration with that overall risk profile. We provide that back to the county. So the county can use that to coordinate those with other providers," he said.
The system was originally developed to streamline appointments and follow up appointments for Parkland patients. But since the pandemic, it has evolved into a data driven health care model for appointments, testing and vaccinations.
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