Add grocery, school staff to vaccine list
Tough times demand tough decisions, and in these dark times, none may be tougher than who gets the vaccine first.
The vaccines are coming, and in the gloom of this pandemic, that is the first ray of sunshine we have seen since January. Three pharmaceutical companies have reported extraordinary success in their testing, and one of them, Pfizer, requested emergency approval recently. Health experts expect distribution to start in the spring.
Now comes the tough task — choosing which Americans stand at the head of the line for the vaccine. The initial choice, touted by state and federal health officials, makes sense — front-line health care workers who risk their lives every day. They need protection to protect others.
Next in line should be the elderly, particularly nursing home residents and patients, many of them with underlying conditions. The virus is particularly deadly in these populations, and the elderly and other high-risk people must be vaccinated as early as possible. It was at a nursing facility in Kirkland, Wash., where one of the earliest U.S. outbreaks of COVID-19 was reported.
These are critical, heartbreaking choices, but health experts have been guided by both compassion and practicality. Both those segments of the population — health care workers and the elderly — are particularly vulnerable to the virus, and that makes everyone with whom they come into contact vulnerable as well. Safeguarding them safeguards others.
Every human being is valuable, and every human being deserves consideration, but the pandemic has redefined our priorities. It has given us a new perspective on who is an essential worker, those we may have taken for granted before. That’s why we believe teachers and grocery store workers should be in the conversation for those who first receive vaccines. One provides nutritional sustenance, the other emotional and intellectual sustenance; without them, our existence would devolve into chaos. Many schools, including those in San Antonio, have remained open, operating with a mixture of in-school and virtual learning, but in-school teaching has declined. Some states, including Kentucky and Michigan, have announced broad closures of schools. More than 40 percent of schoolchildren nationally are attending virtual-only classes, up from 36.9 percent in the last week, according to a company that keeps track of school calendars. Those teachers physically in school more than deserve the protection of a vaccine, delivered as quickly as possible. This is especially so since children are not expected to be vaccinated until mid-2021. The same holds true for the grocery workers we honored as heroes early in this crisis. Now, let’s step up and ensure they are among the first to be protected with a vaccine.
Also under consideration to be among the first in line should be poor and underserved communities. Multiple factors, including lack of health care access, have placed people of color at greater risk than other populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospitalization rates for African Americans, for example, are 4.7 percent higher, while their death rates are 2.1 percent higher. With the optimism fueled by the development of these three vaccines, the hope is tempered by the political machinations in Washington. Presidentelect Joe Biden has finally received the go-ahead for his long-delayed transition to the White House, but the intransigence was senseless and damaging. The delay meant another delay — in formulating a plan to distribute the vaccine.
“That is why we have to begin, today, working very, very hard at a community grassroots level to help communities understand why they want this (the vaccine),” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of the novel coronavirus task force assembled by Biden.
With more than 250,000 Americans killed by the virus, the need for an aggressive, coherent plan is more urgent than ever. Millions of Americans will travel over this Thanksgiving holiday despite CDC warnings to stay home. The spike in travel will likely mean a spike in cases, and that means the vaccine, and how it is distributed and prioritized, will be that much more crucial.