CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Friday marked the deadline for state health officials across the US to submit a written plan to the CDC on how they will distribute the COVID-19 vaccine once it's approved.
The plan for how a coronavirus vaccine will be distributed in the Carolinas is now in writing. North and south Carolina’s health departments submitting their plan of action report to the CDC and they’ll have to prioritize.
"In the beginning, we need to understand there is only going to be a limit supply of those vaccines," Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the DHHS.
In the Tarheel state health officials wrote they will first offer the vaccine to health care providers at the highest risk for contracting the virus, those administering the vaccine and staff in long-term care facilities.
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The second group of people to be vaccinated will be residents of long-term care facilities, people over 65, and people living in group settings like homeless shelters and prisons.
South Carolina health officials saying they’ll first prioritize front-line health workers and nursing home residents then other essential workers like police, food packaging workers, and teachers.
"Those COVID-19 vaccines will be recommended by our advisory committee on immunization practices until they have passed the trial showing they are both safe and effective," Dr. Linda Bell SC Epidemiogist DHEC.
States now have about two weeks to compile a list of ready to go vaccine distribution centers. The November 1 deadline to submit that to the federal government fast approaching…even as progress on a vaccine has stalled, with two of the four leading u-s trials halted over safety concerns.
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