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 Not a single rural hospital in this state that prides itself on its
country roots received any doses of the vaccine this week, despite
such medical outposts serving around 20% of the state's population,
or 3 million people.
Even before the pandemic, rural hospitals in Texas and many other
states were operating on "skin and bones" staffing and budgets,
Sprys said.
"We're all exposed all the time," she said. "We don't have an
isolated COVID wing or staff only dedicated to COVID unlike in
larger hospitals. To not be included in the first shipment of
vaccines is just so upsetting."
This isn't the first sign of inequality in the pandemic. Rural and
urban poor residents across the U.S. have lamented not receiving
treatments and medications as the better off, nor the quantity or
quality of testing.
Sprys, her three fellow doctors and the 28 members of the nursing
staff at the Medical Arts Hospital in Lamesa have been looking
forward to the vaccine for months, hoping it would bring relief to
Dawson County.
One of the poorest counties in Texas, nearly a quarter of Dawson's
13,000 residents live in poverty. To date, it has seen 1,325
coronavirus cases and 42 deaths, according to the state health
department's count.
Rural hospitals around the nation, and particularly in Texas, have
faces widespread closures after years of budget cuts. Some 27 rural
hospitals have closed in Texas in the past decade - double that of
any other state.
If it weren't for a $10 billion federal stimulus aimed at rural
hospitals nationwide in May, another half dozen small Texas
facilities would have closed, estimated John Henderson, the
president of the Texas Organization of Rural and Community
Hospitals.
NEEDLES IN ARMS
The Texas Department of State Health Services is tasked with
allocating where the vaccine goes. A 17-person expert panel is
charged with delivering recommendations on allotments to the state's
health commissioner, Dr. John Hellerstedt, who has the final say on
deliveries.
In a Dec. 14 letter sent to rural health advocates, Hellerstedt
praised their patience and wrote that a "more inclusive" strategy of
who gets vaccines will begin next week and that the pending approval
of the Moderna vaccine would help alleviate rural shortfalls.
Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for state health services, said there
were two big reasons why rural areas were left off the initial
Pfizer vaccine shipments. The first is that the smallest shipment
contains 975 doses, so the state sent it to hospitals who said they
had that many health care workers to inoculate.
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 The second reason is that the
Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored in special
freezers, which larger facilities were more
likely to have. But that reasoning irks the
doctors in Lamesa as their hospital had
purchased one of those freezers in anticipation.
The Moderna vaccine, Van Deusen said, is easier
to store and will be able to be shipped with a
minimum of 100 doses, meaning it can go to
smaller hospitals.
Time is of the essence, said Henderson, of the
Texas Organization of Rural and Community
Hospitals. "You have one doctor
out because of coronavirus in a small town, and that may mean you
just lost half of your medical staff," he said.
Henderson said the state should embrace alternatives - such as
having regional medical centers not vaccinate lower-risk staff, and
instead earmark some doses for the frontline rural doctors and
nurses.
'ANSWERING THE CALL'
It's difficult to recruit doctors to work in any small town, and
those that do are considered the crown jewels of their communities.
Many residents interviewed in Lamesa said they were adamant that
their medical staff should be protected immediately.
Debbie Aylesworth, 67, credits Sprys and the staff at the Lamesa
hospital with keeping her off a ventilator when she had COVID-19 a
few months ago. After Aylesworth was exposed to the virus in
October, Sprys texted her daily to ask if she was having any
symptoms.
If not for Sprys' insistence, Aylesworth said she likely would have
delayed seeking treatment and ended up being far worse off.
 "Those doctors are answering the call," she said. "They are dealing
with the worst of what this pandemic is dishing out, so they should
be seeing the benefit of the vaccine."
Josh Stevens, the mayor of Lamesa, said the area has been as
brutalized by the pandemic as anywhere else in Texas.
Making matters worse, he said, is that about 85% of the town's
population is considered part of the essential work force - most
working in agriculture along with oil and gas - meaning more of
Lamesa's citizens have been out on the frontlines.
"Most people in Lamesa have had nowhere to hide from this virus, and
our doctors have had to deal with that reality," he said. "Them not
being at the front of the line to get a vaccine is a slap in the
face for all of rural Texas."
(Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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