Inflating with cancer sticks can prevent you from getting sick in Pennsylvania, at least when it comes to COVID-19.
The state is hitting smokers at the head of the vaccine line because the habit makes you more vulnerable to the disease, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said Friday.
In the first phase of the Keystone State coronavirus vaccine distribution plan, all people 16 to 64 years of age with “high-risk medical conditions” (including cigarette connections) were added. .
“Pennsylvania has chosen to follow the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations and include smoking among the list of medical conditions that put people at risk, ”a representative of the state health department told the station.
Smokers are now eligible to receive life-saving traits along with health care workers, nursing home residents, and people 65 and older according to phase 1A of the plan.
It was not immediately known how the state will verify whether a person is a smoker and the health department spokeswoman did not immediately return The Post’s comment request on Friday.
The CDC Advisory Committee on CDC Vaccination Practices recommends that people ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions be included in Phase 1C of the vaccine allocation plan. But each state is free to adjust the plan as it sees fit.
Currently, New Jersey and Mississippi also offer the vaccine to smokers under the age of 65.