Patton State Hospital has begun inoculating all consenting staff and patients with their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine in a rush to stem a rapidly spreading outbreak that has killed 16 patients and infected 548.
Patton leads the state’s five psychiatric hospitals in the number of COVID-19-infected patients, and is second only to Coalinga State Hospital in patient deaths. Since May 30, 2020, 16 patients have died from the novel coronavirus at the San Bernardino facility, while 20 have died at Coalinga, according to the Department of State Hospitals.
In the past week, 66 patients at Patton — the largest of the state’s five lockdown psychiatric hospitals — have been newly diagnosed with COVID-19, according to Patton Executive Director Janine Wallace in a declaration filed in federal court Tuesday, Jan. 26. She said 830 patients — 66.3% of the facility population — and 52.3% of its 2,516 staff members have been inoculated with the first dose of the vaccine.
Employees began receiving their second doses Tuesday and patients will begin receiving their second doses on Friday, Jan. 29, Wallace said in her declaration.
Amid the outbreak, attorneys for the nonprofit Disability Rights California initially sought a judicial order for the transfer of more than 300 high-risk patients to safer, noncongregate facilities until the outbreak was contained. U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal subsequently put Patton on the fast-track to vaccinate all its consenting staff and patients and return to him with weekly status reports via telephonic hearings.
Some lack capacity to consent
But the state’s task has not been an easy one. More than 200 patients lack the capacity to consent to vaccinations on their own and have conservators who must give permission. As of Friday, Jan. 22, 18 patient conservators declined to provide consent for the patients to be vaccinated, but 150 conservators did give consent, Wallace said in her court filing. She said of those 150 patients, 137 had received their first dose of the vaccine, and Patton is working on confirming the status of the remaining 13.
During a status conference Thursday, Bernal said he was pleased with the state’s vaccination efforts so far.
“Seems to be progress has been made at a steady pace,” Bernal said. However, he continued pushing for more information on the number of patients who have not yet consented to being vaccinated or have medical conditions precluding them from being inoculated.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa A. Tillman, representing the Department of State Hospitals and Patton, told Bernal she believes that the patient vaccination rate at the hospital was “well over 70%” as of Thursday.
Pressed by Bernal on how many patients eligible for vaccination still had not given consent for inoculation, Tillman did not know, and said emphasis has been placed on “rolling up sleeves” and getting patients vaccinated more than on accumulating data on patients not giving consent. Bernal said he understood, but voiced concern that patients not consenting to vaccinations were the ones most likely to contract the potential deadly coronavirus and spread it, and therefore hoped those patients be further informed and encouraged to reconsider their decisions.
Anne Hadreas, an attorney for Disability Rights California representing the patients, said during the hearing that she would like Patton to provide her information on what it has been doing to educate nonconsenting patients and staff about vaccination.
“We have heard that some people were unable to ask questions,” Hadreas said. “There is still a significant population that has not been inoculated. There’s still a risk.”
Vaccine availability
She also raised questions about the availability of sufficient vaccine doses to fully inoculate the patients, based on state numbers.
In her declaration, Wallace said that, as of Jan. 22, Patton had a sufficient number of initial doses of the vaccine to inoculate all its consenting patients and staff.
Bernal directed attorneys on both sides to confer next week on the status of the outbreak and ongoing vaccination efforts. He scheduled another status conference for Feb. 9.
