Arkansas should adjust its vaccination priorities

One of the few blessings of this horrible covid year of 2020 is that we Arkansans have Asa Hutchinson as our governor. It could have been much worse, but Asa has charted a middle, pragmatic course and kept most of us safe and working — a difficult target. He has used his gravitas and elder statesman status as a Republican to avoid the lunatic fringe ideas from both the Arkansas Legislature and D.C. while exhibiting a thoughtful, common-sense approach to the pandemic. We are also fortunate to have had excellent scientific and medical knowledge that he listened to and relied upon in 2020, including Dr. Nate Smith, Dr. José Romero, Dr. Robert Hopkins and Dr. Jennifer Dillaha.

Nearly all states are vaccinating health care workers, beginning with those in highest risk settings, plus residents and staff in long-term care facilities first, in Phase 1-A. There are around 200,000 of these folks in Arkansas and this makes perfect sense.

I am concerned, however, that the current Arkansas vaccination plan dated Dec. 15 lists in Phase 1-B a very large group of essential workers, no matter their age and health. Next, in Phase 1-C, are adults aged 65 years and older plus adults with chronic health issues. Other states have implemented a more nuanced approach to essential workers by identifying a small critical number who will be vaccinated in an early group plus a much larger group of essential workers who will be vaccinated in a later group after the vaccination of older vulnerable adults.

The CDC’s most recent guidelines did emphasize the 75-plus age group should be in an early group but left 65-plus adults and adults with co-morbidities until later groups. However, quoting from the Dec. 24 Democrat-Gazette: “Oklahoma Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said late Wednesday that the state’s advisory committee decided it would be problematic to prioritize young and healthy workers over Oklahomans in the 65-74 age group.” I applaud this decision.

We in Arkansas will implement our own specific plans regarding covid-19 vaccine distribution. As a senior with many senior friends, some of who have died or whose health was severely impacted by the coronavirus, I encourage the use of both empathy and common sense in Arkansas’ vaccine distribution. If I or many of my senior friends are infected by this virus, we are likely to be hospitalized and some of us would die while others’ long-term health will never fully recover.

JEFF WILLIAMS

Fayetteville