SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Thursday the first doses of coronavirus vaccine from drug maker Pfizer are expected to arrive in New Mexico within 24 hours of pending federal approval.
There are 17,500 doses of the vaccine reserved for New Mexico, which plans to distribute the initial allotment to health workers at high or moderate risk of exposure.
Responding to the announcement that a U.S. advisory panel has endorsed Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for possible final approval, Lujan Grisham said that “we’re on track, it looks like, to have those vaccines shipped out early next week.”
The state sent notifications Wednesday to 37 hospitals that are expected to receive initial vaccines.
“Given the limited number of Pfizer vaccine doses available in the first shipment, we are prioritizing hospital personnel at moderate and high risk of exposure to infection, whether directly through patients or through handling of infectious materials,” the letter states.
State health officials plan to channel initial doses of a separate vaccine from Moderna toward staff and residents at long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, if and when the vaccine receives federal approval.
Decisions are still pending about which populations to vaccinate after that. State health officials say critical workers and vulnerable populations include police and corrections officers, public transit workers, child care center personnel and possibly teachers.
Leading state legislators on education policy have joined Lt. Gov. Howie Morales in urging the state to place a top priority on vaccinating educators alongside medical workers in an effort to return students to in-person learning as soon as possible. The vast majority of students across New Mexico are studying remotely from home in response to the pandemic.
“The state’s preliminary COVID-19 vaccination plan fails to acknowledge the immense costs of school closures and the impact on students who, by the end of the month, will have lost nearly nine months of in-person instruction during 2020,” said state Sen. Mimi Stewart and state Rep. Christine Trujillo in a letter to newly appointed state Health Secretary Tracie Collins, who starts work next week. Trujillo and Stewart are co-chairwomen of the lead legislative committee on public education policy and funding.
State health officials on Thursday issued orders that could limit nonessential surgeries and prepare for rationing of other medical services as the coronavirus pandemic strains resources and personnel at hospitals and intensive care centers.
The state Department of Health issued the two new public health orders amid a sustained surge in coronavirus infections and deaths across much of the state.
One order allows hospitals and acute-care facilities to limit surgeries, and the second order changes liability standards for emergency medical providers as the state prepares for possible triage procedures that might limit care to some individuals.
“Normally, providers have an ethical and legal obligation to a do whatever is in the best interest of each of their patients,” the order on rationing stated. “Under crisis standards of care, providers instead have an ethical and legal obligation to do what is best for everyone in the state, not just what is best for their individual patients.”
The health orders go into effect Dec. 11 and will last until at least Jan. 4.
Human Services Secretary David Scrase said that hospitals are reaching alarming statistical milestones as they cope with pandemic patients. The coronavirus accounts for more than 50% of patients at some hospitals, he said. Every patient is on a ventilator breathing machine in at least one intensive care unit.
New Mexico on Thursday reported an additional newly confirmed 1,791 COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to nearly 115,000 since the pandemic began. An additional 23 deaths also were reported.
The rate of positive test results for the coronavirus has declined over the past two weeks, at the same time that average deaths have increased.
The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in New Mexico decreased from 22.6% on Nov. 25 to 15.2% on Wednesday. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for New Mexico the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test specimens using data from The COVID Tracking Project.
The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in New Mexico has risen over the past two weeks from 23 deaths per day on Nov. 25 to nearly 28 deaths per day on Wednesday.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
