BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Wednesday, it was announced that Catholic Health will be the leader on the COVID-19 vaccination plan for the Western Region of New York.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Sullivan described the Western Region as "very diverse, graphicly dispersed" and including Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties.
"We wanted to make sure that the Western New York community was aware of the exciting news as we move on from fighting the battle on the bedside to advancing our troops to vaccination," Sullivan explained.
Sullivan said they do not have a number for how many people will be vaccinated yet. When asked about the timeline, officials said the plan will be under review at the end of this month.
Then they will finalize the plan based on feedback from the state. From there, the process should begin once the vaccine is in place.
Vaccine hubs, such as the Western Region's, will help build trust and distribute the vaccine. Sullivan said the hub led by Catholic Health will include three major parts: regional planning, an operations team, and a logistics team.
The regional planning aspect will work on looking at data and other information, such as populations and where the need is the highest, to plan the vaccine logistics and distribution.
The logistics team will support the ability to administer the vaccine, and the operations team will be in charge of actually deploying the vaccine.
Vaccine pods, which will distribute the vaccine, will be set up in communities based on populations that are at most at need, which will be determined using data and community feedback.
There will also be a Healthcare Equity Task Force, meant to ensure that the vaccine is distributed in an equitable manner and prioritized to populations with the greatest need first.
Sullivan said, "That would be focusing on making sure we're listening to the communities of all diverse backgrounds to help determine the vaccination process and where pods will be established, or points of dispensing."
2 On Your Side asked Sullivan how Catholic Health plans to engage with community groups to ensure that the needs of high risk and greater need communities are met.
Sullivan said while Catholic Health will base a lot of decisions on data, the most important data will be coming from community groups.
Sullivan said that the vaccination is the community's plan, not Catholic Health's plan, in respect to the fact that the community needs to be involved with its creation. He emphasized that these local organizations and groups need to get involved.
Chief Integration Officer Rebecca McCormick-Boyle, who led the St. Joseph's Campus when it was a COVID-only facility, said that vaccine education is also part of the Health Equity Task Force.
"We know that really need to make an effort to ensure that we do inform folks in the rural area and we do inform folks who are new to our community and we do inform folks who feel that they have been marginalized. We want to be very inclusive," said Sullivan.
Sullivan said that while it was suggested that he take part in receiving the vaccine on camera, in an attempt to promote trust of the vaccine, he wanted to prioritize healthcare workers. He suggests that people should read up and become informed on the vaccine.
Additionally, in regards to the development of the vaccination plan, McCormick-Boyle also emphasized Catholic Health's plan is creating is within a phased approach the state has created.