States ramp up for biggest vaccination effort in US history
UNITED STATES
WITH A COVID-19 vaccine drawing closer, public-health officials across the country are gearing up for the biggest vaccination effort in US history: a monumental undertaking that must distribute hundreds of millions of doses, prioritise who is first in line, and ensure that people who get the initial shot return for the necessary second one.
The push could begin as early as next month, when federal officials say the first vaccine may be authorised for emergency use and immediately deployed to high-risk groups such as healthcare workers.
“The cavalry is coming,” Dr Anthony Fauci said on Thursday on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’. He said he hopes that shots will be available to all Americans in April, May, and June.
EARLY DATA
Pfizer also boosted hopes this week, saying that early data suggests that its vaccine is 90 per cent effective. But the good news came in one of the grimmest weeks of the pandemic so far. Deaths, hospitalisations, and new infections are surging across the US – and turning up the pressure to get the vaccine effort right.
In Philadelphia, the health department is counting how many healthcare workers and others would be among the first in line. In Louisiana, officials are planning a remote exercise this week to play out different scenarios exploring how the process might unfold.
“If you get 10,000 doses, what are you going to do, versus 100,000 doses?” said Dr Frank Welch, director of Louisiana’s immunisation programme.
State and local officials are also planning for the likelihood that the first shipments will not be enough to cover everyone in high-priority groups.
Similar preparations are happening at the federal level. Welch listened in last week on a “war gaming” session by the US Department of Health and Human Services.
For the vaccination effort to get off the ground, state officials have been readying systems to track supplies and who has been vaccinated. That information will be fed into a national network and will be critical in giving federal health officials an up-to-date picture of vaccinations around the country.