Homeless Service Providers to Governor: State’s Vaccination Plan “Extremely Disappointing and Concerning"
By Robert Davis
A group of 10 homeless service providers asked Governor Jared Polis to reconsider the S vaccination plan and classify people experiencing homelessness and service staff with other healthcare workers as recipients during Phase 1.
In a letter sent December 14, the Denver Homeless Leadership Council (HLC) said the omission of both groups from the plan in general is “extremely disappointing and concerning.”
Signatories include Catholic Charities of Denver, Colorado Coalition of the Homeless, Colorado Village Collaborative, The Delores Project, Denver Rescue Mission, The Gathering Place, St. Francis Center, The Salvation Army, Urban Peak, and Volunteers of America of Colorado.
In the letter, HLC argued service providers meet the same criteria as healthcare workers under guidelines set by Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment. Therefore, these providers should be one of the first groups to receive the vaccine. Specifically, they “put themselves at risk through daily direct, sustained, and close contact with thousands of guests and residents who may be contagious.”
“It is critical that Colorado protect homeless service providers and people experiencing homelessness by making the COVID-19 vaccine available to these populations as soon as possible,” the letter reads.
“The relative success of our response thus far has been due to preventative measures that have prioritized people experiencing homelessness. Failure to deliver that same prioritization within vaccination phasing is likely to result in significant hospitalization and death for our most vulnerable community members.”
A Slippery Slope
Earlier versions of the vaccination plan included service providers in Phase 1, which is now underway. However, the final plan includes vague language such as “chronic health problems” and “high-density settings” that can apply to multiple groups.
Christina Carlson, CEO of Urban Peak, worries this could dampen the priority for inoculating homeless people across the spectrum and result in complications during the distribution of the vaccine. Since there is no mention of couch-surfers or the unhoused in any of the phases, it is possible that many people who qualify as homelessness will not receive the shots.
“This information is critical for our operations and four our residents,” Carlson told the Denver VOICE in an interview. “We really hope the Governor takes another look at this before it’s too late.”
Other service providers are also unsure why shelters were de-prioritized under the final plan. One theory is that shelters became collateral damage after Polis received pushback from the Colorado Black Democratic Legislative Caucus and community members concerning vaccinations for those who are incarcerated.
HLC applauded the efforts of service staff during the pandemic, but said service providers stand a greater chance to stop the virus with early vaccination and can begin treating the underlying causes of homelessness again.
As of December 14, there were 859 positive cases. Similarly, shelters like Urban Peak and Denver Rescue Mission’s Harvest Farm in Fort Collins are seeing high positivity rates.
For two weeks, Urban Peak’s Denver campus had to close for new residents because of its high positivity rates. Moreover, of the 56 tests conducted at Harvest Farm, 85 percent came back positive.
In an email statement, Connor Cahill, a spokesperson for Polis, told the VOICE that the governor is standing by the state’s plan because it prioritizes the most at-risk populations.
“The Governor believes it is our moral obligation to prioritize vaccinating seniors and the elderly living in nursing homes, as they are at the greatest risk of death from this virus, and simultaneously to inoculate our frontline healthcare heroes who treat COVID-19 patients in a direct way on a day-to-day basis," Cahill said.
"If a person is over 65 or has another health condition that puts them at an increased risk, they are prioritized to get the vaccine before the general population."
New Guidance
On Monday, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released new guidance for phased vaccinations. The agency said states should prioritize vaccines for persons experiencing homelessness “at the same time as the frontline staff, because of their shared increased risk of disease.”
However, Colorado’s messaging to service providers has been the opposite. Carlson said the public health officials she has spoken to were definitive about people experiencing homelessness being vaccinated in Phase 3.
Cali Zimmerman, the emergency management coordinator for Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment, told the VOICE in an email that state public health guidelines are “meant to guide and support local planning.”
To that end, Denver is continuing discussions with homeless service providers about how to manage vaccine distribution. But, that doesn’t mean the current plans are set in stone.
Zimmerman said Denver “recognizes the need to protect those most at risk, and we will be prioritizing those with underlying conditions that put them at higher risk of sever outcomes from COVID-19.”
“Since we know persons experiencing homelessness often suffer from untreated or unmanaged health problems, we may prioritize this group of individuals within the high-risk population,” she added.
But for HLC, and the thousands of people experiencing homelessness in Denver, clear guidance couldn’t come soon enough.
“Continuing and expanding homeless services during the COVID-19 pandemic has been critical to protecting the health, lives, and safety of our unhoused community members… Homeless service providers can only continue to provide these essential emergency response services if their staff are able to remain in their roles safely and safe from COVID-19,” the letter says.