December 20, 2020 - When Can You Be Vaccinated?
When Can You Be Vaccinated?
December 20, 2020
As surely as the sun rises in the morning, the State’s Sunday reports deliver welcome, if temporary, relief … if 2,548 new cases (incl. 451 probables) can ever be classified as “relief”. That is a decline of nearly 1,700 cases from yesterday and less than half the number of new cases two days ago. If history is a guide, tomorrow’s cases will be similar to today’s before returning to the 4,000-5,000 range next week. Some testing centers in Alabama apparently take the day off on Saturdays and Sundays.
Hospitalizations also tend to ebb on weekends but not as much. There were 2,337 patients in 97 reporting hospitals, compared to 2,318 patients in 95 hospitals yesterday. If this average of 24 patients per hospital continues to hold on Tuesday, when 105-110 hospitals typically submit reports, then we can expect record-breaking totals of more than 2,500 hospitalizations during Christmas week.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met this morning and voted 13 to 1 to revise its prior recommendation concerning who should get top priority for vaccination after the high-risk persons in Phase 1a have been vaccinated. ACIP’s recommendations are almost always endorsed by the CDC. States are not required to follow CDC’s guidance, but they usually do.
Phase 1a - the vaccination of medical personnel (21 million persons) and nursing home residents (3 million persons) - was not a controversial decision. Phase 1b, on the other hand, has proven to be far more controversial. ACIP initially recommended prioritizing broad swaths of “essential workers” (87 million persons) before seniors (53 million) or persons under 65 with high-risk medical conditions (81 million). This initial recommendation was widely panned by statisticians and ethicists, who argued that far more people would die under ACIP’s proposed plan.
The revised proposal would divide essential workers into 2 buckets - “frontline” and “other” essential workers. Frontline workers would include firefighters & policemen, teachers, farmers, manufacturers, postal service, corrections, grocery and public transit workers. The frontline workers (30 million) and seniors over age 75 (21 million) would take priority in Phase 1b, while the other essential workers (57 million), persons age 65-74 (32 million) and persons under age 65 with high-risk medical conditions (81 million) would be placed in Phase 1c.
Of course, there is overlap among essential workers, seniors and persons with medical conditions. The bottom line: approximately 49 million persons would be eligible for vaccination in Phase 1b while about 129 million persons would fall into Phase 1c. Individual states will make the final decision whether or not to follow the CDC’s guidance. For more details, click here: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/20/cdc-panel-says-frontline-essential-workers-people-75-years-and-older-should-get-covid-vaccine-next.html
Equity is a complicated issue as it relates to vaccinations. Already, photos of politicians getting vaccinated are circulating on social media, raising the specter that wealth and privilege will dictate access to vaccines, just as they have determined access to healthcare, generally. COVID-19 has highlighted the debate over whether adequate healthcare is a human right or a privilege - a debate that will continue to be argued around dinner tables throughout America. The totals:
12/7 - 2335
12/8 - 4436
12/9 - 3522
12/10 - 4735
12/11 - 3853
12/12 - 4066
12/13 - 2790
12/14 - 2264
12/15 - 3638
12/16 - 4107
12/17 - 4695
12/18 - 5348
12/19 - 4221
12/20 - 2548
Jefferson County reported 435 cases; Madison - 252; and Mobile - 239. The following are the 10 most populous counties in the State and their respective 14-day positivity rates: Morgan (53%); Jefferson (39%); Shelby (37%); Madison (36%); Calhoun (36%); Baldwin (35%); Montgomery (34%); Tuscaloosa (32%); Lee (32%); Mobile (30%).