(CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told public health officials around the United States to prepare to distribute a potential coronavirus vaccine as soon as late October. It also provided planning scenarios to help states prepare.
The documents were posted by The New York Times and the CDC confirmed to CNN it has sent them to city and state public health officials.
The scenarios offer details about distribution for two Covid-19 vaccines when supplies "may
be constrained." They've also advised the states on who should get vaccinated first -- healthcare professionals, essential workers, national security "populations" and long-term care facility residents and staff. "These scenarios are designed to support jurisdictional , federal, and partner planning, but they are still considered hypothetical," one document reads.The scenario documents do not necessarily mean a vaccine will be available by late October.
Pandemic planning exercises have for years included recommendations that the federal government ready a distribution network while scientists work on a vaccine. The Trump administration has said it's doing this. Companies developing the vaccines are already ramping up manufacturing so that, in case one or more is found safe and effective in people, it could start going into arms immediately.CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said it's simple preparedness."Right now I will say we're preparing earnestly for what I anticipate will be reality ... that there'll be one or more vaccines available for us in November, December -- and we have to figure out how to make sure they're distributed in a fair and equitable way across the country," Redfield said during an interview with Yahoo Finance.CNN reported last week that Redfield had asked states to speed through permits for medical and pharmaceutical supplies company McKesson to help distribute any eventual coronavirus vaccine. In a letter, Redfield asked them to waive any requirements that might get in the way of distributing vaccines by November 1 -- before Election Day -- and weeks, if not months before most experts expect any vaccine to be fully tested.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/02/health/cdc-covid-19-vaccine-distribution/index.html
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