Officials of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are planning to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine first to those identified to be in the most vulnerable sector and those areas where there are many infections.
Areas with a high number of COVID-19 infections usually have a large population of people of color.
The advisory group of the CDC stated that a limited supply should be set aside for the people of color because they are the ones disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19.
According to Business Insider, COVID-19 infections and deaths were higher among people of color due to a number of factors such as access to health care, unemployment, household density, and discrimination.
Under the proposed plan for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, people in the U.S. will be divided into four phases.
These phases will be followed should there be a shortage of vaccine availability.
The first phase will have health care workers, nursing assistants, as well as those working in nursing homes, while the second phase will have the essential workers who are not in the healthcare industry. These are teachers, government workers, and those working in shelters for the homeless. Also included in the second phase are those aged 65 years old and above and those who have pre-existing conditions.
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The remaining two phases will be those who have less risk to the COVID-19.
However, this is just one of the proposals as the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve or give a vaccine an emergency authorization.
According to CDC officials, they will only decide on the process of distribution once a vaccine is approved.
When will the COVID-19 vaccine be ready?
When the COVID-19 first broke out, scientists had to start from scratch in coming up with a vaccine. Not only was data scarce, but they also had to scramble as the pandemic was shutting everything around the world literally.
Fast forward to now, we are very close to finding out if the vaccines that the scientists have been working on round the clock will work against the coronavirus.
In the coming weeks or months, results of the major trials that they have been doing will be known, as reported on BBC.
A COVID-19 vaccine is very much needed to bring a sense of normalcy to all life around the world. Despite the restrictions being implemented, people will still be vulnerable to the coronavirus without a vaccine.
The restrictions, however, have helped a lot in preventing the widespread of the virus and from more people dying.
The vaccine will help our bodies from fighting against the COVID-19 infection, or if it would not be able to stop a person from catching the virus, it would at least make it less deadly.
There are 150 COVID-19 vaccines being developed all around the world, and hopes are high that one would soon be approved to be effective and stop the global crisis brought about by the pandemic.
One of the countries worst hit by COVID-19 is the U.S., which tops the number of cases at a little over 9 million with more than 200,000 deaths.
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