EADD681BC411223187258773005651EF Hearing Summary

Dr. Herlihy continued her presentation.  She discussed COVID-19 vaccination rates, hospitalizations, and mortality rates for those who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. She stated that the Delta variant is currently the dominate variant in Colorado and discussed the case rate and death rate in various counties.

Mr. Bookman discussed vaccination rates and the efforts of the department to distribute vaccine across the state.  He spoke about the deployment of the vaccine through partnerships with CDPHE, health providers, and community organizations in communities with high rates of COVID-19. 

Mr. Bookman discussed the department's plan for distributing COVID-19 vaccination boosters and inoculating children between ages 5 to 11 year olds.

Mr. Gonzales discussed the work public health agencies do to prevent disease and categorical funding for public health activities. He spoke about the stress the pandemic has place on the public health workforce and the struggles public health agencies face retaining staff. He stated that public health professionals are leaving the workforce due to stress, harassment, and burnout.

Mr. Gonzales discussed the difficulty that public health agencies and health care systems have sharing health data, which significantly hampers the ability to identify and address public health threats in a timely and effective manner.  He spoke about disparities in health outcomes among different populations.

Mr. Bookman and Mr. Gonzales responded to questions related to:

• sharing information between public health systems and health care systems;
• health disparities identified by zip code;
• public health agencies' responsibility to look at social determinants of health when making public health recommendations; and
• ways to invest in community infrastructure to improve health outcomes. 

Mr. Bookman told the committee that CDPHE can provide specific data about the areas of the state that have the highest health disparities.   The committee discussed the COVID -19 vaccine booster and data from Israel associated with the booster vaccine dose. 

Committee discussion continued. Dr. Herlihy responded to questions about the high rate of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. She stated that unvaccinated individuals over 65 years old are nine times more likely to be hospitalized than those who are vaccinated.  The committee continued to discuss hospitalization rates, the number of Medicaid clients who have been vaccinated, and the efforts of CDPHE and the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to Medicaid clients.