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Even if the federal government manages to secure the cash needed to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine – and that’s a big if – there is still a huge task ahead at the state level.
Why is this important: America has never attempted to vaccinate so many people in such a short time frame, with so many lives at stake.
1) Record keeping: States will look to their existing immunization registries, AP reports.
- Pharmacies and doctors’ offices will need to be able to search for records, so people don’t have to go back to the same place for their second injection.
2) Storage: Smaller pharmacies and doctor’s offices are needed to facilitate injections, but Pfizer vaccine should be stored at -94 ° F.
- About 60% of drugstore chains nationwide – Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health, Walmart, Kroger and Costco Wholesale, so far – have agreed to partner with the federal government to increase access, HHS announced today. .
- The private sector will also be needed to help reduce shipping, storage and technology times in remote or tribal areas.
3) Return visits: The CDC is considering ways to help Americans remember to take the second photo with the same mark, per AP:
- The first would be to issue cards that people would receive with their first vaccine, like the polio vaccination cards that many older Americans remember.
- In a rural part of South Carolina, a community health center schedules several reminders, including text messages and calls from health workers.
- In rural Minnesota this fall, masked nurses wearing traffic vests reached cars to vaccinate passengers against the flu as a means of social distancing, but it also served as a test for a COVID vaccine.
The bottom line: The government must get its message across this time.
- The CDC and other agencies can’t afford to repeat this spring, when they gave bad indications about face masks and tests that still confuse many Americans.
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