Vaccine distribution plan inworks
Health officials working on assumption a vaccinewill be available in November
State of Michigan health officials are in the process of creating the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution on the assumption that a vaccine is available in November.
Bob Swanson, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services immunization director, said it’s an “allhands on deck” effort to get the state’s vaccine distribution plan submitted to the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Oct. 16. That plan will be modified and improved over time once a vaccine becomes available and distribution begins.
To date, over 120,000 Michiganders have been infected with COVID-19, with another 6,700 dying from the virus.
That federal deadline will be 30 days following the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) release of two documents, the federal government’s strategy for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine and a COVID-19 vaccination playbook as part of Operation Warp Speed, which provides states with guidelines and a template to follow when drafting their own COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans.
Right now, an exact timeline for vaccine approval and distribution is unknown, but CDC Director Robert Redfieldhas said
that the goal is to provide 300 million doses of a safe and effective vaccine by January 2021. The federal government invested more than $10 billion in six vaccine candidates through Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration’s effort to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of vaccines and treatments to fight the coronavirus.
Swason said the state is using the information that was provided to MDHHS from the CDC as a planning assumption. He said the state is in “decent shape” with its distribution plan, despite so many unknowns, which include: the amount of vaccine that will be available, when a vaccine will be available for distribution, vaccine storage requirements, and the priority groups who will receive the first, initial doses, which will be limited, per CDC guidance.
“That planning assumption is, and what the CDC has said, is that lets plan on having that vaccine available in November,” he said. “Whether it’s or not is irrelevant. It’s what we’re going to use as a planning assumption so we’re ready by November. Nobody knows when the vaccine will be available yet, because that’s all a part of the testing process and clinical trials that are going on.”
Swanson said if initial doses of a COVID-19 vaccine become available in November or December, the state will be prepared. To support its vaccine distribution and preparedness efforts, the State of Michigan will soon be receiving $5,888,365 in federal CARES Act dollars to support those efforts.
He added that a lot of the state’s planning around distributing a COVID-19 vaccine is based on a foundation of vaccine distribution activities that have been built up and proven effective over the years, including the distribution of the H1N1 vaccine in 2009. He called that H1N1 distribution plan the “backbone” of what the state will use for the COVID-19 vaccine since there are some overlapping populations.
“I have 100 percent confidence in the distribution process that we currently use,” he said. “That’s the same distribution plan we currently use for the vaccines for children program and the one we used during the H1N1 pandemic. If we continue with this system, I do have confidence that we will be able to get the vaccine where it needs to go. it has been proven now for many years.”
The MDHHS-Division of Immunization is currently working with several partners to develop the distribution plan of COVID-19 vaccine. The initial, limited doses will be given to residents identified as being a part of critical populations.
According to the CDC, the distribution of initial vaccine doses will be based on CDC prioritization models. Priority groups may include: critical infrastructure workforce, people at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness, people at increased risk of acquiring or transmitting COVID-19, and people with limited access to routine vaccination services.
Some of those COVID-19 vaccine priority groups will differ from that of inf luenza vaccine priority groups, which doesn’t include health care workers. Within the state’s COVID-19 plan, officials are anticipating that specific group to be higher up on the priority list.
The state’s biggest challenge in distributing a COVID-19 vaccine will involve capacity and the speed at which the vaccine will be made available. The other big challengewill be vaccine storage requirements, which are unknown at this time.
“Being able to get that amount of vaccine out to providers that can get it into people’s arms is really a big challenge,” he said. “We’re trying to be as open as we can to all the different avenues and take advantage of the different partners that we have.”
If a state’s initial vaccine allocation is insufficient to vaccinate all those within the critical populations, the CDC is recommending that states identify smaller groups within these larger critical populations to determine who will receive the first available doses.
These groups may include: paid and unpaid people serving in healthcare settings who are unable to work from home, essential workers who cannot socially distance in the workplace, and people at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness, including people 65 years of age or older.
As vaccine supply becomes more widely available, the state will engage with additional immunization partners and stakeholders, both public and private, to assure critical populations are protected onceMDHHS officials know which groups will be prioritized and the initial limited vaccine supply is known and allocated to Michigan.
State health officials are planning to include local public health departments, federally qualified health centers, hospitals, pharmacies, tribal health centers, colleges and universities, long term care facilities, agencies for the aging, and current COVID-19 testing sites to serve as COVID-19 vaccination sites once MDHHS knows the priority groups and vaccine supply.
Health officials will be working with emergency preparedness partners statewide to assure previous plans that have been in place are ready. Right now, theMDHHS Division of Immunization is also preparing to enroll as many providers as necessary to receive, store, and vaccinate once the initial doses arrive.
Currently, there are four COVID-19 vaccine candidates being produced in The United States that are going through a third and final clinical trial, just over eight months after COVIDwas identified. The manufacturers include: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna/ The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Janssen.
“This is an unprecedented feat for the scientific community made possible by decades of progress in vaccine technology and a coordinated, strategic approach across government, industry and academia,” said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci. “It is likely that multiple COVID-19 vaccine regimens will be required to meet the global need.”
On Aug. 14, the CDC executed an existing contract option with McKesson Corporation to support COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The company also distributed the H1N1 vaccine during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009-2010.
“If I rely primarily on that CDC McKesson contract, I do believe and trust that,” said Swanson.
At this time, detailed planning is ongoing to ensure rapid distribution as soon as the FDA authorizes or approves a COVIDvaccine and CDC makes recommendations for who should receive initial doses. Once these decisions are made, McKesson will work under CDC’s guidance, with logistical support from DoD, to ship COVID-19 vaccines to administration sites, including in Michigan.