The CDC ACIP recommendations of vaccine distribution is available.
It notes there are 21 million health care workers and only 3 million people in LTCF. Those are the only two groups that the ACIP mentions for their recommendations. Considering that there were announced plans to have 40 million first doses out within 4 weeks (which would cover those 24 million and 16 million more), I find that woefully short of giving much guidance.
More details about California's initial 327K dose distribution can be found in this Sacramento news article.
Order of priority (Unfortunately, California is not indicating the number of people in each tier)
Tier 1:
It names how many doses go to each of 6 regions in California (total 327,600)
It names 7 hospitals that get the vaccine to distribute
California is scheduled to get 12x as many doses as that within 4 weeks (approximately 571,000 doses for each of those 7 hospitals, if they were the only ones to get the doses). I surely hope that information will be out before long about who will be allowed to get the vaccine and how they will know they are eligible, how they prove they are eligible, how to make appointments, how those appointments will be allocated.
I am pretty sure the above tiers will have received their doses well before all the December doses are done. Who's next? How will they know? Are they going to get a choice of Moderna or Pfizer, or will they be told "It's X or nothing"?
The governor indicated there were 2.4M health care workers. I'd guess there are less than 0.5M in LTCF (only 3M in US LTCF). So that covers less than 2.9M of the 4M first-round doses in December in California. Who is in line for the next 1M in that last week of December?
One survey found "According to a poll from the American Nurses Association, 34% percent of nurses say they plan to get the vaccine while 36% say no and 31% are unsure." So maybe there will be more December doses available for those not yet specified.
If at some point there is a category for a particular age group with certain comorbidities, does CVS/Walgreens take your word for it or do you need a note from your doctor?
When one of the multi-million person group becomes next in line, how will appointments be allocated (first to know about it or fastest typist, first served)? For instance California has 5.85M 65+ residents. Suppose that 4M of them have comorbidities. When 65+ with comorbidities gets to the head of the line, will the servers of CVS and Walgreens melt under so many trying for appointments all at once (and that's just from California). Or do 2,000 cars converge on a neighborhood pharmacy on a Monday morning?
This draft plan for California seems like, well, a draft.
I have a lot more confidence that the vaccines will get to the states promptly than I have confidence that the states, or at least California, will be able to distribute it in an orderly fashion.
I have a relative 65+ in the hospital with a variety of issues, to the point that one MD thought this was about end of life. He likely will be discharged before the vaccine is out, but to home rather than to a petri dish. If he is at home, I'm not sure how far down the list he will be before he can get a vaccine. (If he gets anything but a very mild case of COVID, he won't make it.)
What I need to figure out is what the contraindications are for the Pfizer & Moderna vaccines. Yeah, I know his doctor should figure this out, but do you think I can trust them to know that? I think this is all too new and too squishy for me to be able to believe there is solid data to go on. I want to do my research and then talk to some MD relatives who can help me figure out whether any vaccination might be hazardous to someone in his condition. Then I can listen to whoever is assigned to him at his hospital.
So, can anyone point me to where to see what kinds of problems were seen in the trials?
Also, Dr. Slaoui was asked if the vaccinations should be given to people who had COVID previously. He pointed out that those that had known COVID were excluded, but the trials included a number of people who were seropositive for COVID. So, he said that those that had significant symptoms of COVID were not represented in the trials and that this group needed more trials.
I've lost the link, but I saw a reputable site indicate that people that had COVID should get the vaccine so they wouldn't get COVID again. I hope these opinions get straightened out.
It notes there are 21 million health care workers and only 3 million people in LTCF. Those are the only two groups that the ACIP mentions for their recommendations. Considering that there were announced plans to have 40 million first doses out within 4 weeks (which would cover those 24 million and 16 million more), I find that woefully short of giving much guidance.
More details about California's initial 327K dose distribution can be found in this Sacramento news article.
Order of priority (Unfortunately, California is not indicating the number of people in each tier)
Tier 1:
- Acute care, psychiatric and correctional facility hospitals.
- Skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and similar settings for older or medically vulnerable.
- Paramedics, EMTs, and others providing emergency medical services.
- Dialysis centers.
- Intermediate care facilities.
- Home health care and in-home supportive services.
- Community health workers.
- Public health field staff.
- Primary care clinics.
- Specialty clinics.
- Laboratory workers.
- Dental and health clinics.
- Pharmacy staff not working in settings at higher tiers.
It names how many doses go to each of 6 regions in California (total 327,600)
It names 7 hospitals that get the vaccine to distribute
- Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
- Mercy Medical Center, Redding
- Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego
- UCD Health, Sacramento
- UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
- Valley Children’s Healthcare, Madera
- Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
California is scheduled to get 12x as many doses as that within 4 weeks (approximately 571,000 doses for each of those 7 hospitals, if they were the only ones to get the doses). I surely hope that information will be out before long about who will be allowed to get the vaccine and how they will know they are eligible, how they prove they are eligible, how to make appointments, how those appointments will be allocated.
I am pretty sure the above tiers will have received their doses well before all the December doses are done. Who's next? How will they know? Are they going to get a choice of Moderna or Pfizer, or will they be told "It's X or nothing"?
The governor indicated there were 2.4M health care workers. I'd guess there are less than 0.5M in LTCF (only 3M in US LTCF). So that covers less than 2.9M of the 4M first-round doses in December in California. Who is in line for the next 1M in that last week of December?
One survey found "According to a poll from the American Nurses Association, 34% percent of nurses say they plan to get the vaccine while 36% say no and 31% are unsure." So maybe there will be more December doses available for those not yet specified.
If at some point there is a category for a particular age group with certain comorbidities, does CVS/Walgreens take your word for it or do you need a note from your doctor?
When one of the multi-million person group becomes next in line, how will appointments be allocated (first to know about it or fastest typist, first served)? For instance California has 5.85M 65+ residents. Suppose that 4M of them have comorbidities. When 65+ with comorbidities gets to the head of the line, will the servers of CVS and Walgreens melt under so many trying for appointments all at once (and that's just from California). Or do 2,000 cars converge on a neighborhood pharmacy on a Monday morning?
This draft plan for California seems like, well, a draft.
I have a lot more confidence that the vaccines will get to the states promptly than I have confidence that the states, or at least California, will be able to distribute it in an orderly fashion.
I have a relative 65+ in the hospital with a variety of issues, to the point that one MD thought this was about end of life. He likely will be discharged before the vaccine is out, but to home rather than to a petri dish. If he is at home, I'm not sure how far down the list he will be before he can get a vaccine. (If he gets anything but a very mild case of COVID, he won't make it.)
What I need to figure out is what the contraindications are for the Pfizer & Moderna vaccines. Yeah, I know his doctor should figure this out, but do you think I can trust them to know that? I think this is all too new and too squishy for me to be able to believe there is solid data to go on. I want to do my research and then talk to some MD relatives who can help me figure out whether any vaccination might be hazardous to someone in his condition. Then I can listen to whoever is assigned to him at his hospital.
So, can anyone point me to where to see what kinds of problems were seen in the trials?
Also, Dr. Slaoui was asked if the vaccinations should be given to people who had COVID previously. He pointed out that those that had known COVID were excluded, but the trials included a number of people who were seropositive for COVID. So, he said that those that had significant symptoms of COVID were not represented in the trials and that this group needed more trials.
I've lost the link, but I saw a reputable site indicate that people that had COVID should get the vaccine so they wouldn't get COVID again. I hope these opinions get straightened out.