Millennium Physician Group has plan in place for possible vaccine distribution

Millennium Physician Group has been authorized as a distributor of the COVID-19 vaccine, but so far has not received any doses. The group says watching other agencies trying to manage the rollout has taught it some lessons for when those doses do finally become available.

The biggest difference between Millennium and a mass vaccination site or even a local pharmacy is you: The doctors there know their patients, and they know who needs the vaccine the most.

The group says the state’s approval to distribute the vaccine is not a guarantee that it will receive any doses. But a plan is nevertheless in place in case the vaccine does arrive. Dr. Alejandro Perez-Trepichio, the group’s chief medical officer, says Millennium will call its patients directly to schedule appointments, starting with the oldest and most vulnerable ones.

“We don’t want to create anxiety in patients, so we don’t want an 80- or 90-year-old person having to sit by the phone on certain days waiting to get the vaccine from us,” Perez-Trepichio said. “So in our case, we have determined the best way to approach this is to actually call the patient ourselves.”

Perez-Trepichio says there’s still no timeframe for when Millennium Physician Group may get some vaccine doses.

“We will proactively call the patient based on age and risk factors,” Perez-Trepichio said. “So we will not start at 65. We will come all the way down to 65, but we will do it in reverse order, so it will go oldest, sickest person first, and then as more vaccines becomes available, we will make sure that all of our patients get the vaccine.”