By RICHARD SKOLNIK
Los Alamos

It is heartening to see the progress that Los Alamos is making in its COVID-19 vaccination program. I also appreciate the increasing amount of information that county officials and other stakeholders have provided on the vaccine program over the last few months.

The county recently published, for example, a statistical update on the vaccine program. Such information is very helpful. However, it must be a starting point and not an end point. The county also needs to highlight for the community the extent to which the program is meeting its aims, what constraints the program faces, and what the county is doing to overcome them. We also need for county officials to keep us informed about the work they are doing with the state to ensure that Los Alamos gets its fair share of the vaccine.

Such communications are especially important since the success of public health programs, both in the US and globally, has been universally tied to clear and consistent messaging by political leaders and public health authorities. This was true of the global smallpox eradication program and of the US campaigns to reduce tobacco smoking and encourage seat belt use in cars. This is true today in the global efforts to eradicate polio and Guinea worm. It is impossible, in fact, to find a successful public health effort anywhere that was not built on such messaging.

We are a small county and the state is managing the overall vaccine effort. However, our connections with the state are somewhat distant. It remains very important, therefore, that county officials continuously update the community on answers to the questions below.

• Where is Los Alamos in its vaccine efforts?
• What is keeping the program from moving faster?
• What are the state and county doing to improve the efficiency of the program?
• Is the program being carried out in a manner that is fair and consistent with eligibility criteria?

We are almost certainly in a race between the vaccination program and the impact of new variants on the spread and lethality of COVID-19. Any efforts to achieve “herd immunity” are also complicated by the fact that we have no vaccine for those below 16 years of age, who make up around 20% of our population. Vaccine hesitancy is also a potential constraint to the program.

Los Alamos does lead the state in the share of its eligible population that is registered for vaccination. However, even in Los Alamos, 30% of the eligible population is still not registered. Regular communication from the county to its residents can help ensure that we come as close as possible to vaccinating every eligible county resident as soon as we can.