States ramp up for biggest vaccination effort in US history

As the development of an effective COVID-19 vaccine nears, public health officials nationwide are preparing for what will be the largest vaccination initiative in American history. The significant undertaking will involve hundreds of millions of doses and will require prioritizing who receives the initial doses and developing a plan to ensure that people who receive a first dose return for the second one. Across the country, officials are counting how many health care workers and others would be first in line, planning remote exercises to prepare for various scenarios, and preparing systems to track supplies and who has been vaccinated, among other tasks. “We not only have to bring people back for a second dose, but need to make sure that we have very good records of which vaccine they received the first time,” said Jinlene Chan of Maryland’s health department. In an effort to better understand if at-risk groups are getting vaccinated, CDC had wanted providers to list the race and ethnicity of the individuals they vaccinated, which drew objections from providers that do not always collect that information. APhA’s Mitchel Rothholz notes, “We have to be careful not to put too many administrative burdens on providers that are already stressed.” Providers have been informed they will have the option to omit that information, he said. State officials note providers will also have to report vaccination information every day, which will be a change for those who usually enter day weekly or every 2 weeks. To help people find the vaccine in their region, CDC wants to list the information on a website that would be updated daily, although supplying that information could be a staffing strain for some providers.