We have a pretty good idea of who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine first, and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has created a plan that is so far being used as a framework by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
USA Today reported that the vaccine will first be given to “front-line health care workers, first responders, cleaners and ambulance drivers.” After those workers get the vaccine as part of Phase 1a, people “with underlying conditions that put them at significantly higher risk,” those “with two or more chronic conditions,” and people 65 or older living in nursing homes and other group facilities will receive the vaccine.
The Mayo Clinic lists multiple conditions that put someone at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19, including moderate to severe asthma and other lung problems, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia, a weakened immune system, and chronic kidney or liver disease.
After Phase 1 of vaccine distribution is completed, the National Academies suggest Phase 2 consist of everyone else over the age of 65, those with underlying conditions that put them at a “moderately higher risk,” anyone under 65 housed in a prison, jail, or other detention center, and workers in “high-risk situations,” which the organization lists as teachers and childcare workers. Numerous studies and data have shown that schools are not significant spreaders of the coronavirus, so it is curious to see teachers listed in the “high-risk” category.
Phase 3 would include young adults, children (if the vaccine is safe for them) and people who work in certain industries, including hotels, banks, higher education, and factories. Obviously missing from the list are people in the restaurant or bar industry.
Phase 4 would allow everyone else in the U.S. to receive the vaccine. USA Today reported that it could take up to a year for the vaccine to reach everyone in the country.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the first two vaccines to show promise “still have to go through final testing and get approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at which time the CDC panel study clinical trial data to see side effects on people of various ages, ethnicities and health.”
“After that, the CDC will decide who gets priority for the vaccine and state health services are expected to follow the CDC’s guidance,” the outlet continued.
“The analysis evaluated 95 confirmed Covid-19 infections among the trial’s 30,000 participants,” CNBC reported. “Moderna, which developed its vaccine in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said 90 cases of Covid-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the group that received its two-dose vaccine. That resulted in an estimated vaccine efficacy of 94.5%.”
About 20 million doses of the vaccine should be ready by the end of the year.