There are many factors involved in the response and it depends on the health of each person, what is done to make a living and where they live.
This means continuing to wear masks, moving away socially, avoiding large gatherings, and washing hands regularly.
You have more questions; here are more answers:
Who gets vaccinated first?
Who is an essential worker?
ACIP defines front-line essential workers as any person employed in “sectors essential to the functioning of society and who have a substantially higher risk of exposure” to coronavirus. In addition to first aid, this includes those working in education, food, agriculture, manufacturing, corrections, U.S. postal service, public transportation, and grocery stores. There are approximately 30 million people in this category.
Other key workers, according to ACIP, are people working in transportation, logistics, food service, construction, housing, finance, information technology, energy, sanitation, media communication, law, public safety and the water / wastewater industries. The category includes about 57 million Americans.
When will the general public get the vaccine?
This is a moving goal that will be dictated by numerous variables. Dr Vivek Murthy, Biden’s candidate for general surgeon, said he believes it may take until late spring to finish vaccinating high-risk populations if all goes according to plan. That means mid-summer can be a “realistic” schedule for the general public to start vaccinations, he told NBC.
“If all goes well, we may see a circumstance where, by the end of spring, people in lower risk categories can get this vaccine,” he said, “but that would really require everything to go exactly according to “I think it’s more realistic to assume that it may be closer to mid-summer, early autumn when this vaccine makes its way to the general population.”
A recent ACIP chart indicated that the general public could start receiving the vaccine in about 20 weeks, which would put the target in May, which “is in line with what I thought as well,” Hannan said.
Because states will handle releases differently, Hannan says it’s a good idea for people to monitor state health department websites for details. Some states are setting up “public control panels” and hope others will allow residents to sign up to sign up for updates, he said.
What factors drive the launch phases?
The two main factors are supply and demand, essentially how many people receive the vaccine and the amount of vaccine available, Hannan said.
Although Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have already received emergency approval, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have vaccines in operation, which if approved would increase supply, he said.
As for demand, it will depend on how many people in the early stages of vaccination join the injections. If the numbers are high in these priority groups, it will take longer to move to the general public phase, Hannan said.
“So far, there seems to be a great demand, for health workers to be happy to receive the vaccine. They are lining up to get it. They are posting photos of themselves receiving it,” he said.
Healthcare professionals do not want the doses not to be used, so there will be disparities from one state to another. For example, he said, if a state’s priority groups are more hesitant to get vaccinated, it can reach the general public more quickly because the state will move on to the next phase to use the doses at hand.
What power do states have?
Vaccine providers have pledged to follow ACIP guidelines, but there is significant leeway that provides flexibility to states, Hannan said.
“States will give their own guidelines and, by virtue of where they send the vaccine, states are making decisions about who gets it first,” he said.
ACIP provides “the compass that everyone is following,” he said, but states have discretion when it comes to issues such as the underlying conditions and essential workers. A state may choose, depending on its circumstances, to prioritize the elderly or long-term care facilities over health care workers.
“The categories are broad enough for states to be more focused or less focused on certain populations,” he said.
With limited doses, as they are now, observers do not see much variation from one state to another, but it should be more evident as the vaccine becomes more available.
Who makes decisions at the state level?
Ultimately, it will be up to state governors to make calls to who gets the vaccines and when, Hannan said.
However, most states have advisory committees or workforces in their health and preparedness agencies that will provide recommendations to governors. State officials can also rely on ACIP guidance, and the CDC has a jurisdictional game book, according to which the National Association of County and City Health Officers describes the “strategy for administer and administer a COVID-19 vaccine as quickly and efficiently as possible. ”
“It’s hard for governors to deviate too much,” Hannan said. “Hopefully, we won’t see politics done.”
What if people try to cut the line?
It’s an issue that each state will have to deal with individually, Hannan said, but in the grand scheme of a nationwide vaccination campaign it’s not the most troubling concern.
On the one hand, it is an indicator of high demand, which means more vaccine acceptance, he said. On the other hand, people who administer the vaccine have enough to worry about without being forced to check everyone’s identification, employment, or medical history. It’s all a matter of balance, he said.
“We don’t want to divert people or want a sitting vaccine,” he said. “States will have to address it when situations like this arise, instead of making people go through a lot of hoops … I don’t think it’s a fantastic thing, but I’d rather have it than people who don’t want the vaccine.” .
CNN’s Jen Christensen, Jamie Gumbrecht, Jacqueline Howard, Shawn Nottingham and Jenn Selva contributed to this report.