AIM In the News: Pew Charitable Trusts

Executive Director Claire Hannan was featured in an article written by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a global nongovernmental organization that seeks to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life. discussing COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

“Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, a Maryland-based group of vaccination experts, said the common theme from the states that are doing well is that they have “a really strong relationship with their providers and they have strong messaging and leadership from the top.” She said Alaska, North Dakota and West Virginia, for example, are working closely with providers to help them manage their inventory.

“The concept is, this isn’t your inventory, it’s, ‘We’re sending you this to vaccinate the community,’” she said.

Some hospitals in larger states, meanwhile, seemed to consider their vaccine allocations hospital property, and if they couldn’t find enough people who fit the criteria for early vaccinations, gave shots that would otherwise spoil to younger, nonmedical workers.

“I think more states added the National Guard to their planning and to their response once they saw that the vaccines they were sending to hospitals weren’t going like hotcakes,” Hannan said. “They had to think differently.”