Covid-19 vaccine: When can YOU get it? It depends on your health, occupation and where you live

You have more questions; here are more answers:

Who is being vaccinated first?

Who is an essential worker?

ACIP defines essential frontline workers as anyone employed in “sectors essential to the functioning of society (who) are at a substantially greater risk of exposure” to coronavirus. In addition to the first respondents, this category includes those working in childcare and education, food and agriculture, manufacturing, corrections, the US postal service, public transportation and grocery stores. There are about 30 million people in this category.

Other essential workers, according to ACIP, are people who work in the areas of transportation, logistics, food, construction, housing, finance, information technology, communications, energy, sanitation, media, law, public health and water industries / Sewer. The category covers about 57 million Americans.

When will the general public receive the vaccine?

This is a moving target that will be dictated by countless variables. Dr. Vivek Murthy, Biden’s nominee for general surgeon, said he believes it may take until the end of spring to finish vaccinating high-risk populations, if all goes according to plan. This means that mid-summer could be a “realistic” schedule for the general public to start vaccinating, he told NBC last month.

“If all goes well, we could see a circumstance in which, in late spring, people who are in lower risk categories can get this vaccine,” he said, “but that would really require everything to be exactly on schedule. I think it is more realistic to assume that it may be closer to mid-summer, early fall, when this vaccine reaches the general population. “

A recent ACIP chart indicated that the general public could start receiving the vaccine in about 20 weeks – setting the target in May – which is “kind of in line with what I was thinking, too,” said Hannan.

Because states will handle implementations differently, Hannan says it is a good idea for people to monitor state health department websites for details. Some states are creating “public-facing panels,” she said, and the New Mexico Department of Health announced on Wednesday a website that will allow residents to sign up for notifications about when they qualify for the vaccine.

How much will it cost?

The federal government has spent billions of dollars to buy doses of vaccines from several companies – including Pfizer and Moderna – and, as a result, vaccines will be free for Americans.

What factors drive the deployment phases?

The two main factors are supply and demand – essentially, how much vaccine is available and how many people want to receive it, Hannan said.

While vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna have already received approval for emergency use, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have vaccines in progress that, if approved, would increase supply, she said.

On the demand side, it will depend on how many people in the first stages of vaccination will queue for injections. If the numbers are high in the priority groups, it will take longer to move on to the general public stage, Hannan said.

“So far, it seems that there is a high demand, that health professionals are excited to receive the vaccine. They are lining up to get it. They are posting pictures of themselves receiving it, ”she said.

Health professionals do not want the doses to go unused, so there will be disparities from state to state. For example, she said, if priority groups in a state are more hesitant to get vaccinated, it could reach the general public faster because the state will move on to the next phase to use the doses at hand.

Kentucky health commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said that these guidelines “should not hinder” facilities that use their doses. He said the authorities need to be “flexible or we will not administer the vaccine”.

“A shot in a voluntary arm is ultimately a higher priority than a shot in just a few arms,” ​​he said.

What power do states have?

Vaccine suppliers have pledged to follow ACIP guidelines, but there is room for maneuver, Hannan said.

“States will give their own guidelines and, just because of where they send the vaccine, states are making decisions about who will receive it first,” she said.

ACIP provides “the compass that everyone is following,” she said, but states have discretion when it comes to issues such as basic conditions and essential workers. A state may choose, based on its circumstances, to prioritize the elderly or long-term care facilities over health professionals.

“The categories are broad enough for states to focus more or less on certain populations,” she said.

With limited doses, as they are now, observers are not seeing much variation from state to state, but the disparities will become more apparent as the vaccine becomes more available.

Who is making decisions at the state level?

Ultimately, it will be up to state governors to decide who will receive the vaccines and when, Hannan said.

However, most states have advisory committees or task forces in their health and preparedness agencies that will provide recommendations to governors.

State authorities can also rely on ACIP guidance, and the CDC has a jurisdictional handbook, which the National Association of County and City Health Officials describes the “strategy for delivering and administering a COVID-19 vaccine in the fastest and most efficient as possible “.

“It is difficult for governors to go too far,” said Hannan. “Fortunately, we will not see it become political.”

Governor DeSantis, showing up last month at a press vaccination event at The Villages, a retirement community in central Florida, flouted the CDC guidelines, saying the state was not required to follow them.

“If you are a 22-year-old who works for a food company – say in a supermarket – you would prefer a 74-year-old grandmother. I don’t think that’s the direction we want to go.”

What if people try to cut the line?

It is an issue that each state will have to deal with individually, said Hannan, but in the grand scheme of a nationwide vaccination campaign, it is not the most worrying concern.

On the one hand, it is an indicator of high demand, which means more acceptance of the vaccine, she said. On the other hand, those who administer the vaccine already have enough to worry about, without the burden of verifying everyone’s identification, occupation or medical history. It’s all about balance, she said.

“We don’t want to reject people and we don’t want vaccines out there,” she said. “States will have to deal with this when situations like this arise, instead of making people go through a lot of obstacles. … I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I’d rather have that than people who don’t want the vaccine.”