By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that this past week, the Center for Disease Control released their plan for local and State jurisdictions to distribute the Covid-19 Immunization when it is finalized for public use?
President Trump has repeatedly made claim that we could see a new immunization injection available and ready as early as this October or November. Although CDC officials have stated otherwise, claiming the immunization will not be ready until 2021, President Trump has put in place now how the immunization will be distributed.
According to the CDC Director, Robert Redfield, the first to receive the injection will be health care workers, vulnerable populations (elderly, chronically ill, etc.) and first responders such as fireman and rescue personnel. Dr. Redfield also believes that the rest of the American population should expect to have access to the immunization sometime in early to mid-2021.
Dr. Jay Wolfson, Dean for Health Policy at the University of South Florida agrees and stated, “We can do it, but may not happen as quickly and fluidly as we’d like it to – – but we have it as our aspiration.” Dr. Wilson went on to explain further that it “will be a logistical operation like the United States has never done before – – and will require building a national database to track vaccines from manufacturer, to provider, to patient.”
According to CBS Channel 12 News in South Florida, State Senator Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart) who is the Chairwoman of the Senate Health Policy Committee, said she is receiving briefings from various pharmaceutical companies to understand any potential snags in distribution. She shared with reporters that one of the biggest issues will be transporting and storing the Covid-19 vaccines, which will most likely need to be kept in extremely cold temperatures (approximately -112F).
To put the public’s mind more at ease regarding the ability of the State of Florida to aide in distributing the Covid-19 vaccine, Harrel reassured the public’s concerns by stating “We are very practiced in thinking ahead, and strategically planning in solving a problem.”