Red States prioritize the most vulnerable for Covid vaccine

 Washington Examiner:

Several red states are eschewing federal recommendations for vaccine distribution and prioritizing the elderly and vulnerable over essential workers, in the hopes of saving more lives.

Texas, Florida, South Dakota, and Tennessee have decided to focus on groups that are the most at risk of death, including those with chronic conditions and elderly people who are 65 and up. That is a different distribution plan than the one recommended in mid-December by the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which said that certain essential workers and those age 75 and older be the next in line for coronavirus vaccinations after healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents.

The ACIP is the committee under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention charged with recommending how vaccines should be used. While the ACIP’s suggestions do not have the force of law, they have long influenced which vaccines private insurers and the federal government will pay for.

Most states are following its direction. Nevada, for instance, changed its vaccine distribution plan to match the committee's recommendations.

But Texas has decided to break with the ACIP, instead prioritizing those age 65 and older and people age 16 and older who have chronic conditions that put them at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

“The focus on people who are age 65 and older or who have comorbidities will protect the most vulnerable populations,” Imelda Garcia, chairwoman of Texas’s Vaccine Advisory Panel, said in a statement. “This approach ensures that Texans at the most severe risk from COVID-19 can be protected across races and ethnicities and regardless of where they work.”

...

The data appears to demonstrate that the Texas approach will save the most lives.  I think eventually the distribution will reach all who want the vaccine.  The most vulnerable have been elderly people and especially those with preexisting conditions. 

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