UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute COVID Vaccines?

The way that Fayette county (or anywhere else) distributes the Covid vaccine when it becomes available is going to be essential to maximizing its competency. It is going to have to be very well thought out, and I think a good place to start is thinking about who is most susceptible to complications of the virus and who comes in contact with the virus the most. 

Using much of the commonly known data that has been collected from research since the pandemic started, we can see that the elderly and people with co-morbid diseases are the most at risk of contracting the virus and having severe complications. It is safe to say that these people should be at the top of the list for receiving the vaccine first, or at least close to the top. You also have to keep in mind the people who come into contact with the virus the most. There is pretty solid research that shows that viral load is a strong factor in the severity of an individual’s infection. People who are exposed longer or come into contact with a high viral load have a larger chance of contracting the virus and having worse complications as well, no matter how healthy they are. These people will most definitely be healthcare workers; especially those that work in the Covid care units and emergency wings. These people should be at or near the top of the list as well. Our country is not so much in as severe a lockdown anymore, but if it were or if it comes back to that circumstance, you have to think of essential workers. These might be people who work in grocery stores, restaurants, or any essential service location. After these people receive the vaccine, the distributions can trickle down to the rest of the population. This way the people who are more susceptible will have a better chance at staying healthy while the others still have not received the vaccine. 

If there is only enough vaccine for a third of the population of Fayette county, this theory is the most feasible. If there is little chance that the other two thirds of the population will be able to receive the vaccine then the result of that will be less severe than if the populations I mentioned before do not receive the vaccine. There will be a much higher amount of death if the elderly and people with co-morbid diseases do not receive the vaccine, and if the healthcare workers do not receive that vaccine, there will be less amounts of people available to work in the hospitals to handle major outbreaks. It is safe to say that the younger populations that are not immune compromised will not develop severe symptoms if they are staying at least semi-safe regarding the virus. There is also chance that these people can develop some immunity on their own for about three months after they have had it, so this may help with control in the younger populations in and of itself.