thevaccinereaction--2020-11-03--CDC Gives States COVID-19 Vaccination Program “Playbook”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) created a national COVID-19 Vaccine Program Playbook for state , territorial and local public health officials and their partners and issued directions for how to plan and operationalize COVID-19 vaccine programs in their jurisdictions .
State health departments throughout the United States submitted comprehensive drafts of their COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s ( CDC ) on Oct. 16 , 2020.1 Many of the COVID-19 vaccination program initiatives described in the CDC ’ s playbook may overlap with routine vaccination programs already in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and adult vaccination and pandemic influenza program activities can serve as a foundation for COVID-19 vaccination planning.2 The CDC ’ s 51-page plan calls for different phases for distributing the vaccine .
Due to changing vaccine supply levels at various stages during the national COVID-19 vaccination program , the planning will be flexible but as specific as possible to accommodate a variety of scenarios .
Health officials are projecting that coronavirus vaccine supplies will be limited immediately after licensure .
Therefore , the first allocation of vaccine doses will target healthcare workers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for COVID-19 complications , such as individuals over 65 years old .
As vaccine supplies increase quickly following licensure , distribution of the vaccine will be expanded to other populations that health officials consider to be at high risk and , then , to the general public.3 According to the CDC ’ s guidelines , after a COVID-19 vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) , federal officials will determine how many doses will be distributed to each state or region .
States will then be responsible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ providers.4 Paul Mango , Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service ( HHS ) said that the federal government is in the process of “ actively engaging tens of thousands of provider outlets for these vaccines ” .5 He added that the U.S. currently has assembled 40 million-plus vaccination kits with the bottles , needles and other items needed to administer the vaccine : “ All of those are in warehouses ready to go , so that ’ s a big logistical task or undertaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 vaccine gets approved ( or if several coronavirus vaccines are approved ) , storage and handling of the vaccine will vary accordingly .
Since Pfizer , Inc ’ s COVID-19 vaccine candidate , BNT162b1 , needs to be stored at 94 degrees below zero , it will require special storage equipment and transportation .
The company will only be shipping about 500 to 1,000 doses at a time .
Moderna ’ s vaccine candidate will need to be stored at four degrees below zero .
The concern is that many providers do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that safe and effective storage of these vaccines require.7 Sounding a note of caution , Marcus Plescia , MD , chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials said , “ Everybody needs to realize it ’ s not going to be seamless.
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