Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
Having gotten that off my chest, I'd like to correct OP as to the order recommended by the ACIP to receive vaccines.
First: Health Care Workers and residents of Long term care facilities This is called the 1a group
Health care workers includes:
• Hospitals
• Long-term care facilities
• Outpatient clinics
• Home health care
• Pharmacies
• Emergency medical services
• Public health
Long term care residents includes:
Skilled nursing facilities (~1.3 M beds)
• Assisted living facilities (~0.8 M beds)
• Other residential care (~0.9 M beds)
Next is the 1b group:
Phase 1b
Essential workers
(examples: Education Sector, Food & Agriculture, Utilities,
Police, Firefighters, Corrections Officers, Transportation)
Then the next group
Phase1c
Adults with high -risk medical conditions
Adults 65+
If this recommendation is finalized then well elderly are in the third group. The 1a group is estimated to require 48 million doses [24 million people]. The linked report does not list the number of doses needed for the 1b group. Neither vaccine is yet approved but there will be some decision in the next two weeks. Production is already underway as is some effort at distribution to have vaccine nearer to the target recipients. Pfizer has recently announced that it is having problems producing the number of doses it thought it could make. States have been told to expect far fewer doses than they initially were expected to receive.
Don't expect any vaccine to be available to the well senior group until early spring if the ACIP sticks to its initial thoughts. It might be even later.
Get your flu shot if you haven't. So far it has been a mild flu season likely to some extent as a result of the masking and distancing being used by some people for Covid control. |
Great post, by the way! Long-term care facilities personnel and residents SHOULD be among those 1st vaccinated - because they are indoor "super spreader" areas. They also need the money, being currently withheld by the Federal Government, to ensure that they have the HVAC capacity to turn over the air frequently and create negative air pressure.