UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute Covid Vaccines?

Many residents in Kentucky, the USA, and the world are wondering when a vaccine will soon come to our aid. There is still no timeline yet due to the ongoing testing of a few potential vaccine candidates. That certainly doesn't mean that elected health officials shouldn't be planning in advance for when a vaccine is available. Throughout the distribution of the vaccine there will be many questions risen such as: the quantity of vaccines, the most targeted population to receive the vaccine, and how to avoid chaos during distribution. All of these concerns are valid and a plan must be developed before the vaccine is distributed in order to limit potential conflict. 

In order to know how to distribute the vaccine, I believe that the first issue that should be taken into consideration is who will obtain the vaccination if there is limited quantity. There is still a lot to discover about COVID-19 but what scientists do know is that individuals that are 65 years and older have a weaker immune system to fight off infections. Also, most individuals that are 65 and older live in nursing homes where social isolation and infection control is difficult. Therefore I would begin by giving the vaccination ot the elderly and then reviewing the quantity of supplies available. The other group that is most vulnerable to the virus are the healthcare and public safety workers. Therefore, I would provide the vaccination to them at their workplace. If there were more vaccinations on hand then I would provide it to young children because, although it thought not to be true, children are also susceptible to the virus after evidence from the recent infection statistics. This would be the most logical way to sift through the most vulnerable groups and decide who will receive the vaccine. 

After extinguishing the questions of who will receive the vaccination first, then there is the issue of how to distribute it. As far as nursing homes are concerned, I believe that there should be teams covering certain care centers and then distributing the vaccine to residents at those facilities. After all the facilities have received the vaccine then I would contact all other residents that do not live in nursing homes and then provide the vaccination to them. When it came time to hand out the vaccination to the general public then I would set up distribution centers all across town and notify each person on which center they were assigned to so to prevent confusion and over burdening on a certain center. 

Although this is a thought out plan, there are other factors that need to be considered such as: what if the vaccine supply runs out, what if citizens get angry that their health was put in line behind others, etc. The only solution I have to these particular conflicts is that the only number of citizens that are contacted are the only number of vaccines available. This would limit the crowds and conflict if the vaccine supply was depleted. Although getting selfish and frustrated is human nature, I would ask that everyone remain calm because everyone will be treated. If this didn't dissuade the public then I would call on the public safety teams to help protect the workers handing out the vaccines and the vaccination supply. There are still so many unanswered what-ifs but I believe that this is as good of place as any to begin the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. 

CDC unveils coronavirus vaccine distribution plan