UAII is excited to announce that ALL registered UAII Community Clinic patients 18 years or older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

There are no walk-ins and you must contact your case manager to be put onto the clinic’s vaccine wait-list. Your case manager will let you know if you need to update your file first. Once you are on that list, you will receive a call from the clinic specifying the date and time you may come in to receive your vaccination. To maintain safe social distancing and maximum occupancy guidelines, only patients on the schedule will be allowed into the vaccination area.

To check if you are eligible to receive services from the Los Angeles American Indian Health Project and Community Clinic, please call and ask to speak with a case manager at (213) 202-3970.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our community, we are excited to report that UAII has received the Moderna vaccine and has begun the implementation of our vaccine plan. We want to assure you our staff is working hard to get as many members of our community vaccinated as additional vaccines come available. Many in our community have expressed an urgent need for information about the vaccine – Who is first in line to receive it? Who will be second and third in line, and how will they be notified? Can community members come to UAII on a “drop-in” basis to receive the vaccine? 

 

As a recurring feature in our blog, UAII will be addressing these and many more of the concerns of our community. Every week we will offer a new blog post with topics related to the pandemic. We will also offer updates on our website’s “COVID-19” Response section along with posts on all of our social media sites. 

 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns that you’d like us to address in future posts, please post them in the comments section below. We value your comments! For additional support call (213) 202 – 3970 or contact your Health Project, Case Manager. 

 

Q&A with Director of Health Services for the UAII Los Angeles American Indian Health Project, Jonelle L. McGee, RN:

 

Who is first, second, and third in line to receive vaccines? How will they all be notified?

 

Please see the infographic below, showing our prioritization metric for vaccines. We are following both Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), which also follows the CDC guidelines. 

 

We have now added our members in the 65+ years old category and those with underlying comorbidities (conditions) that put them at an increased risk for COVID-19 complications, and all of the tiers/levels before that. 

 

Our clinic and Health Project (HP) team has been reaching out to clients that we pulled from our database that fall within those prioritized categories. They will be notified by their case manager or an HP team member. 

Can clients come to UAII on a “drop-in” basis to receive COVID vaccines

 

There are NO drop-in services at this time. To comply with Indian Health Services (IHS) guidelines (who supplied us with the vaccine), clients must be registered clients to receive our services. The first step as a client is to call our case managers in the Health Project, who will assist our members in making sure their files and contact information is updated, and then they will be put on a waiting list. 

 

Any active client can go through this process and be put on a waiting list. The clinic then goes through the list and triages (assigns by urgency) into the different phases/stages, and clients are called into the clinic based on that list. Clients do not need to call back once they are on the list – Our staff knows you are worried, and we assure you we will call you. Another reason we do not do ANY drop-ins for the COVID-19 vaccine is that once a vial is opened, that a vial of 10 doses, must all be administered within 5 hours. It is not viable after that time. 

 

To reduce the possibility of waste, special vaccination days are scheduled where we book a large group to all come in at very specific times to receive their vaccine. If for some reason there is a no-show (leaving a potentially wasted dose), the clinic jumps into action to see if we can get someone else from the waiting list to come in, to not waste any doses. So please contact your Health Project case manager and update your information today. 

 

Can clients come to UAII on a “drop-in” basis to receive flu vaccines?

 

Unfortunately, because we are experiencing an increase in patients we are treating, we cannot offer drop-in flu vaccinations at this time. Clients can consider scheduling a same-day appointment (if available) if a call is made first thing at the start of the business day (early morning).

 

Is LAAIHP offering COVID antibody testing for those who believe they may have already had COVID-19?

 

We do not offer antibody testing at this time, but maybe an option in the future.

 

As of January 27, 2021, there have been 7,719 reported cases of COVID-19 in American Indian communities throughout California (most likely the case number is far higher since nearly 50% of all COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic and many will not get formally tested). 

 

American Indian and Alaska Native people continue to be disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to a higher incidence of preexisting conditions. The American Indian and Alaska Native people have long experienced lower health status when compared with other Americans. Lower life expectancy and the disproportionate disease burden exist perhaps because of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences. These are the broad quality of life issues rooted in economic adversity and poor social conditions.

 

Although seasonal flu activity is lower than usual for this time of year, the COVID-19 death toll in California reached 737 last week. In California, the fatality rate for COVID-19 is 1.25%. In other words, out of every 100 people who test positive for the virus, 1 person will die from it. Since this disease is caused by a new virus, the vast majority of people do not yet have immunity to it. In comparison, the fatality rate for flu is .002%.

 

The risk of complications for healthy children and young adults is far higher for flu compared to COVID-19. But for the elderly and those with the following underlying conditions, COVID-19 presents a greater risk:

 

• Aged 80+
• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Hypertension (High Blood Pressure)
• Down Syndrome
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Organ Transplant
• Obesity (BMI >30)
• Pregnancy
• Sickle Cell Disease
• Type II Diabetes Mellitus
• Smoking
• Cancer

 

According to the California Department of Public Health, younger adults aged 18-49 make up the majority of positive COVID-19 tests. However, deaths due to the virus are primarily in the elderly aged 80+.

  

Diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasm, unintentional injuries, and diabetes are leading causes of American Indian and Alaska Native deaths (2009-2011). American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 5.5 years less than the U.S. all races population (73.0 years to 78.5 years, respectively). 

 

According to the California Department of Public Health, younger adults aged 18-49 make up the majority of positive COVID-19 tests.

 

Deaths due to the virus are primarily in the elderly aged 80+.

 

UAII Vaccine Availability

 

On December 21, 2020, UAII received limited doses of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine from Indian Health Service (IHS). To determine who is eligible to receive each round of vaccines as they are received, the UAII Community Clinic is following the CDC recommendations for a phased approach using a tiered prioritization metric (see above for details).

 

The UAII Community Clinic has received a total of 300 doses to date which is enough to immunize 150 people, following the required two dose schedule. Most of this first round of vaccines have already been administered to those who were designated as part of the highest priority recipient group, including our front line healthcare workers. The clinic and other Health Project staff have also reached out to some of our most at-risk and elderly community members who fit into the Phase 1 metric.

 

If you are interested in learning more about the vaccine, or would like to be put onto our wait list for when the next rounds of vaccines arrive, please call 213-202-3970 and ask to speak with a case manager. The case manager will make sure your registration is current or will help you register for our services, and then will put you on a list which our Registered Nurse will triage using the prioritization metric. The clinic will then call you when it is your turn to receive the vaccination.

 

Please check our website or the Health Project/Community Clinic social media for updates on the vaccine, testing, and other clinical or health news at uaii.clinic on Facebook and Instagram. The Health Project is still offering a $50 incentive to our registered clients who come in for COVID-19 testing. Please call and ask for a case manager for a referral to the clinic for this special incentive.

 

As a recurring feature in our blog, UAII will be addressing these and many more of the concerns of our community. Every week we will offer a new blog post with topics related to the pandemic. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns that you’d like us to address in future posts, please post them in the comments section below.

 

We value your comments!