As COVID Vaccines Are Readied For Distribution, Some Worry About Rushed Rollout
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health officials around the country are working to decide who will get the COVID-19 vaccine first.
Millions of doses could be given before Christmas, according to a federal document obtained by CBS News.
Dec. 15 has been marked as the date for states to start receiving the Pfizer vaccine. The Moderna vaccine would first become available a week later. Meanwhile, some question the speed and accuracy of the vaccination creation process.
It's been a long ten months for the Leonard family of north Minneapolis. They have been learning remotely and distancing, but earlier this fall, it happened. Danyika Leonard's 6-year-old daughter got COVID from eating across the table from someone who unknowingly had it. Her son, who was further down the table, didn't get it.
"That six feet of proximity, that closeness is real. You can take all the precautions, you can come in wearing a mask, but when you're sitting down having a meal, that does make a difference," Leonard said.
Her daughter recovered, and the rest of the family never got it. Leonard has been following the vaccine news closely but cautiously, saying they may wait to get the vaccine.
"Not right away. I am a firm believer that things have to go through trials and tests for quite some time," she said.
With three vaccines in the works, Minnesota Department of Health infectious diseases director Kris Ehresmann addressed that shared hesitation.
"The COVID-19 vaccine development was accelerated, but was accelerated in ways that does not impact the important safety steps that we expect to happen for all vaccines," Ehresmann said.
She says federal funding helped speed things up, and the fact they held trials simultaneously, not in succession.
"We've been talking about the light at the end of the tunnel, it's there and it's getting closer all the time," Ehresmann said. "But we do have to stay the course a bit longer before we reach it."
And the Leonards, who are looking at a quiet family Christmas, plan to do just that.
"Minnesotans … we have to just accept that we have to adapt," Leonard said.
A panel of experts with the CDC held a meeting Tuesday to decide who would get a vaccine first. They strongly support giving it to healthcare workers and long-term care residents.
MDH officials said Tuesday that children will be the last to get the vaccine, but predict vaccines for kids will be available in a matter of months.
