State prepares for potential fall vaccine distribution under pressure from CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently sent guidance on how to prepare to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine. The agency asked A distribution plan was set up in October, stating that the vaccination site had to be prepared by 1 November. These dates alerted many and warned that political pressure was polluting the process.

“It was clear that I was concerned about the political advancement,” he said. Dr. George Benjamin, Director of the American Public Health Association. President Trump Proposed The vaccine will be prepared by the end of the year, “preferably before it is possible.”

But Benjamin said, “I need to take a deep breath.” The CDC timeline may be unrealistic, but it is not necessarily politically motivated. “It’s very clear that we need to lean forward to get ready to give the vaccine.”

The tight timeline of CDC guidance wasn’t surprising Molly HowellVaccination Program Manager, North Dakota.

“It’s something we’ve been informed throughout the pandemic that a vaccine might exist even in the fall of 2020,” she says.

She said she believes vaccine candidates are unlikely to be licensed and readily available immediately, but said, “I’m ready, not ready, life-saving. , Somewhere on the shelf with a vaccine that could prevent the sitting of the disease.”

Immunization managers, such as Howell, are located throughout the country and in some regions and large cities, and are dedicated to these three detailed CDC planning documents. In one document, The approved vaccine isOffers another, Checklist of what to plan, And the third goes through some Planning scenario.. Documents First reported Share with New York Times..

“I admire the administration—finally—some positive thoughts “If we had this kind of activity in January when we had a pandemic, and we had inspections and contact tracking and hospitalization, we would have gone far beyond the curve,” Benjamin said. It should be,” Benjamin says.

He thinks the timeline that the CDC has set up for the state to put together a vaccine distribution plan is the “problem.” Former Maryland Health Secretary, he said, such a plan would probably take three months.

“It’s not just sitting down and writing it on a piece of paper, it’s not like semester paper,” he says. “You need to call people. You need to understand the infrastructure of your state. You need to meet a variety of people to understand their capabilities.”

“I know there is pressure to create these timelines, [to] The vaccine will be open to the public in October and November.” Dr. Steven Stack, director of the Kentucky Department of Public Health, At a press conference Answer the questions from NPR. “I’ve said this repeatedly, I’ll say it again. Nearly everyone will not be vaccinated this year,” he said.

The CDC guidance was from a federal agency to a state, Adriane Casalotti National county and city health authority associations say local health authorities also need to be part of the planning process.

“The local health department understands the nuances [of their communities] “I block not only every row in the county, but every block,” she says. “So they are the best messengers that can tell you not only where the providers are, but where they are and who live in those areas, and who is who.”

She says that the local health department is seen only as a delivery point for vaccines, and much is lost if it’s not involved in the strategy. “The more expertise we can bring to the forefront of the development process, the more effective the plan is at the time of implementation.”

Planning is especially difficult for many reasons. The farthest coronavirus vaccine in clinical trials is very complex.

North Dakota state official Howell explains that a standard pandemic vaccination plan may include high-volume vaccination sites. But in this case, “we are not the only ones who can get together at one site, get together and give people a COVID at a mass vaccination clinic,” she says.

Then there is the minimum dose. In CDScenario document for C, “Vaccine A” has been taken at least 1,000 times. “We were assuming a minimum order quantity of 100 doses,” Howell said. “In rural states, vaccines are so limited that we need to plan differently. If we send 1,000 doses to one area, how do we deliver smaller doses to more rural areas? Is it?”

The cryogenic storage requirements described in CDC’s planning documents also present some serious challenges. Claire Hannan, Director of Vaccination Administrators Association.

Imagine she is planning a scenario like this: “I don’t know when it will be shipped, but I need to use it within 24 hours, and it comes in a package of 1,000 servings, which is on dry ice,” she says.

“It’s a serious plan”

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