Prioritization of Salvation Army Essential Workers for the COVID19 Vaccine Dear Wisconsin State Disaster Me
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Brian Peddle General Wisconsin & Upper Michigan Division Commissioner Brad Bailey 11315 W. Watertown Plank Rd. Territorial Commander Wauwatosa, WI 53226 Major Steven J. Merritt Divisional Commander 414-302-4300 Fax: 414-302-4314 Founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth January 14, 2021 RE: Prioritization of Salvation Army Essential Workers for the COVID19 Vaccine Dear Wisconsin State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee, As the COVID19 pandemic has hit our community in many damaging ways, I urge you to prioritize vaccine distribution to frontline Salvation Army essential workers at locations across the State of Wisconsin. The Salvation Army currently provides social services such as emergency shelter, supportive housing, food pantry, community meals and/or emergency assistance to members of our state in every county who are suffering the most from the economic and public health safety impacts of the pandemic. Daily, Salvation Army officers and staff are out in the community and providing care for people of all ages. Over the past 10 months, The Salvation Army in Wisconsin has provided over 144,000 nights of shelter and distributed over 88,000 food pantry orders while instituting safe practices including no contact food distribution, shelter health screenings, social distancing, mandatory face coverings and increased cleaning procedures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Wisconsin. To maintain safety and ensure the health of our frontline workers in this community we need vaccinations now for our officers and employees directly providing services to the community and help reduce transmission. We understand the scarcity of the vaccination, but we also understand that the essential services we provide are within the qualifications for priority rounds of vaccination as per the Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in their document entitled Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response (Version 4.0, August 18, 2020). As The Salvation Army continues to provide urgent, life-sustaining, and essential services, we urge you to consider our request so that we may continue Doing the Most Good. “Have you remembered The Salvation Army in your will?” Donations by phone 1.800.SALARMY or internet www.salvationarmy.org 354 Please contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions. His Herald, Steven J. Merritt, Major Divisional Commander The Salvation Army | Wisconsin & Upper Michigan Division 11315 W. Watertown Plank Road | P.O. Box 26019 Wauwatosa, WI 53226 (414) 302-4300 www.salvationarmywi.org “Have you remembered The Salvation Army in your will?” Donations by phone 1.800.SALARMY or internet www.salvationarmy.org 355 “Have you remembered The Salvation Army in your will?” Donations by phone 1.800.SALARMY or internet www.salvationarmy.org 356 From: Tricia Schwalbach To: DHS SDMAC Cc: Sen.Wirch - LEGIS; Rep.Ohnstad - LEGIS Subject: Vaccine distrubution for caregivers Date: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:47:10 AM Caution: Message from external sender. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender. To: Members of the Vaccine Distribution Subcommittee This message is to express support for prioritizing disabled individuals and their caregivers in the distribution of SARS-COV-2 vaccines in Wisconsin. First, please explicitly include all caregivers of participants in the IRIS, Family Care, CLTS, and Katie Beckett programs alongside other essential health workers in Phase 1A. Please indicate that "caregivers" includes unpaid family members providing an institutional level of care to disabled individuals at home. Second, please explicitly include all participants in the IRIS, Family Care, CLTS, and Katie Beckett programs, along with yet-unvaccinated caregivers, in Phase 1B. Ethical distribution of the vaccine prioritizes these individuals for reasons including, but not limited to: - Vulnerability to Exposure - Disabled individuals are vulnerable to exposure from unavoidable contact with caregivers - Disproportionate Severity of Impact - Disabled individuals are more severely impacted by SARS-COV-2 and at greater risk of death from its complications - Health Worker/Caregiver Shortages - Disabled individuals face a shortage of qualified, well-trained caregivers; SARS-COV-2 outbreaks among caregivers, including unpaid family members, exacerbate this already acute shortage - Access to Critical Health Services - Disabled individuals with complex health needs disproportionately seek care and/or have been foregoing needed care in medical facilities and other settings where SARS-COV-2 is likely to circulate Your careful consideration of this request is appreciated. Thank you, Patricia Schwalbach 357 358 From: Donald Kind To: DHS SDMAC Subject: Prisoners first Date: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:46:54 AM Caution: Message from external sender. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender. I would like to congratulate whoever decided that prisoners should get the vaccine in the group right after the health care workers. They should have been included with nursing home residents since they are confined in the same way. Prisoners have already gotten the virus and many have died because of their confinement . They have suffered enough from the virus. Let them be vaccinated next to stop this infection rate. Thank you, Maureen Kind 359 From: Hoffman, Mary J To: DHS SDMAC Subject: vaccine subcommittee Phase 1B Date: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:42:33 AM Caution: Message from external sender. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender. Dear Subcommittee, I first want to say that while some of our 1A tier healthcare workers were being vaccinated today, there were also a group of Deerfield teachers being vaccinated. We have tier 1A healthcare workers not able to get in for another week, yet these teachers (1B) are getting vaccinated. Is not 1A a priority??????? I would hope that the decision of this committee is upheld by all, but apparently that is not the case. In regards to tier 1B, I believe over 70 years old should be the priority, before other workers. If we can get these older people vaccinated, there will be less strain on the hospitals which is important for all of us. Also, for childcare workers, there are many that work independently in homes to provide care so parents can work and provide for their families. Please allow these unaffiliated childcare workers access to the vaccine as individuals. Maybe with a W2 from their employer? If they do not work for a large corporate daycare such as KinderCare, they will be left behind and not able to provide care so parents can work. Thank you. Mary J Hoffman MS.Ed., RDH Co-Program Director, Dental Hygiene School of Health Sciences Madison Area Technical College 1701 Wright St. Madison, WI 53704 608-258-2314 [email protected] 360 From: M To: DHS SDMAC Subject: Vaccine subcommittee phase 1b Date: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:29:06 AM Caution: Message from external sender. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender. Any thoughts on adding poll workers before the Feb 16 primaries? Seems like an essential group of workers with close contact and exposure to the public. Thanks, Mike Goodstein Sent from my iPad 361 From: JENNIFER JONES To: DHS SDMAC Subject: Vaccine subcommittee Phase 1b Date: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:18:23 AM Caution: Message from external sender. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender. Dear Panel Members, Please see below argument for why federal defender organizations and CJA panel attorneys are essential frontline workers who are key to societal functioning, and should be prioritized in Phase 1b. Sincerely, Jennifer Jones Racine, WI VACCINE PRIORITIES FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER ORGANIZATIONS AND PANEL ATTORNEYS Based on the accepted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) framework that was approved on December 20, 2020, there is a strong argument that employees of federal defender organizations (FDOs) and Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorneys and their staff (in particular CJA investigators) meet the plain language definition of “frontline essential worker” and are included in Phase 1b of the ACIP COVID-19 Vaccination framework. In order to resume court functions, especially for criminal cases and criminal jury trials, federal defender staff and CJA panel attorneys should be included in Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Federal defender organization (FDO) staff, including staff from both federal public defender organizations (FPDOs) and community defender organizations (CDOs), as well as CJA panel attorneys and their staff are “critical workers in high-risk settings” and are also “workers who are in industries essential to the functioning of society and substantially higher risk of exposure,” and therefore there is a strong argument that they meet the CDC ACIP definition of “frontline essential worker.” Additionally, the vast majority of FPDO, CDO, and CJA panel attorneys are “unable to work from home,” have a “high level of interaction with public or others in the workplace,” and “may be unable to control social distancing.” Although the Judiciary has expanded the use of remote hearings and remote meeting capability at jails and detention centers during the pandemic, defender staff and panel