Though dental hygienists are listed on Utah's state health department website as authorized after training to administer COVID-19 vaccines, the state is currently not accepting hygienists as volunteers, according to NBC affiliate KSL-TV.
Utah.gov lists dental hygienists as authorized to administer vaccines, which is why Heather Crockett completed the necessary seven-hour training, according to KSL-TV. After her training, Ms. Crockett reached out to the Salt Lake County Health Department and was told they weren't accepting hygienists, reports KSL-TV.
"I received a couple of different emails from the Salt Lake County Health Department saying that actually dental hygienists are not currently authorized to be vaccinators in the effort," Ms. Crockett told KSL-TV.
A Salt Lake County Health Department spokesperson released this statement cited by KSL-TV: "We greatly appreciate the enormous interest we've seen in volunteering to assist with the COVID response in Salt Lake County. We've had over 800 people apply to be volunteer vaccinators, and we're now in the process of reviewing, training and deploying these volunteers in the most efficient way to use their expertise."
Currently, Utah requires hygienists and some other healthcare professionals, like veterinarians, to be supervised when administering vaccines.
"We've invited hygienists to enroll in case we do have a need in the future, and we would love to use their skill and expertise in other areas of the response, but at this time it's more efficient to use a vaccinator the state does not require be supervised," SLCHD officials said, according to KSL-TV.