According to CNN, on the afternoon of December 21 local time, President-elect Joe Biden publicly vaccinated the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech in his hometown of Delaware at Christiana Hospital. And broadcast the process of his first dose of vaccine live on television.
“I’m ready.” Biden said in the live broadcast that he immediately rolled up his sleeves and received an injection.” This is a huge hope, and I did this to prove that people should be prepared to get the vaccine when available. There is nothing to worry about. I look forward to getting a second dose of vaccine. Biden stressed.
Biden also expressed his gratitude to the staff involved in the development of the vaccine and the front-line medical staff during the live broadcast: “We owe these people too much.” His wife, Jill Biden, also went vaccinated hours after Biden was vaccinated.
President-elect Biden is the latest U.S. dignitized with Pfizer vaccine. On December 18 local time, U.S. Vice President Pence also took the initiative to vaccinate and broadcast the whole process live.
However, the problem of the sequencing of vaccination in the United States remains unresolved.
Frontline medical staff cannot be the first vaccinated.
According to the Capitol Hill, on December 18, local time, more than 100 front-line doctors and nurses at Stanford University Health Center in California held a protest, claiming that Stanford University’s announced coronavirus vaccination plan did not follow public health recommendations and give priority to protecting those who are fighting on the front line. Medical staff.
“We’ve been promised multiple times to be the first people to get a vaccine against COVID-19, but we haven’t been notified of the vaccine.” Daniel Hernández, an emergency room nurse, said.
The Hill pointed out that these front-line medical staff needed to treat confirmed patients in the emergency room and intensive care unit, but they were surprised to find that they were not on the first vaccination list.
Some plastic surgeons, dermatologists, outpatient nurses and senior faculty members are allowed to give priority injections, according to Stanford’s first-ever list of vaccines, however they have much less direct contact with confirmed patients than those of frontline healthcare workers.
At the same time, of the first 5,000 vaccines obtained by Stanford University, only seven were allocated to medical staff who had direct contact with confirmed patients, but Stanford University accumulated more than 1,300 medical staff, which aroused their great dissatisfaction.
“At this time, we feel hurt and angry, and start to be skeptical about the management of Stanford Health Center,” the frontline healthcare workers wrote in the protest letter. “Given the sacrifices we made and the school’s commitment to us, it’s important to get frontline healthcare workers prioritize vaccination.”
NPR noted that there was a problem with the coronavirus vaccination program at Stanford Health Center or was related to artificial intelligence algorithms.
“Artificial intelligence algorithms prioritize characteristics of healthcare workers who are most likely to contract COVID-19, such as older age, working inside the hospital and living in close proximity to high-risk areas,” Stanford said in a statement. However, most front-line medical staff are young employees and have no fixed properties, resulting in them ranking lower on the list of priority vaccinations.
David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Center, responded quickly, “We are mistaken. We will immediately modify the vaccination plan and vaccinate front-line health care workers immediately.”
Rich people may “jack the queue” to be vaccinated.
According to The Washington Post, in the U.S. market-based health care system, the rich can usually be better taken care of and even vaccinated early.
Shamus Khan, a professor of sociology and American studies at Princeton University, said that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani did not want to go to the hospital when he was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, but Trump’s doctors persuaded him to use the “privileges” that he could have as a personal lawyer for the president and accepted most patients’ dreams. Only then could the experimental antibody treatment be obtained, and then Giuliani soon recovered.
The Washington Post pointed out that although the COVID-19 epidemic has hit everyone, it has seriously harmed the most vulnerable groups in society. When the coronavirus vaccine enters the distribution stage, some “powerful forces” will seek priority vaccination opportunities.
This is becoming a reality.
“We get hundreds of calls every day, many from VIP clients who ask how we can get the vaccine early,” Ehsan Ali, a physician at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, told the Los Angeles Times.
Shamus Khan also pointed out that in a market-based health care system, hospitals may cater to those who can pay more and provide them with something “high value” on an exceptional basis. At the same time, it is possible for the wealthy to even prove to their doctors that they should be classified as “risk groups” and thus get priority vaccinations.
Shamus Khan stressed that this time and again “exceptions” will soon become the “rule of the game” and “kill” ordinary Americans.
According to the real-time statistics released by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as of 15:00 Beijing time on December 22, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States reached 1,8035,207, and the number of deaths reached 319,364.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced three stages of vaccination.
According to the original plan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 million medical staff working in major hospitals and health centers in the United States, as well as 3 million elderly people who have long lived in nursing facilities, were the first candidates to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. At present, this vaccination process has been opened and is called “stage 1A”.
On December 20th local time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to classify the elderly and front-line essential workers as the next batch of vaccinations.
The number of people aged 75 and older in the United States is about 20 million, accounting for 8% of the total population, according to the Associated Press. This group needs to be hospitalized for up to 25% of the population after contracting COVID-19, and the mortality rate is high.
At the same time, there are about 30 million front-line basic workers in the United States, including firefighters, police, school staff, food, agricultural and manufacturing workers, postal employees, etc., who are critical to the social and economic operation and are highly likely to have contact with confirmed patients and are at high risk of infection.
Therefore, these two groups of people are the next batch of vaccines, which is the “stage 1B” of vaccination, which will be launched as early as February 2021.
Seniors aged 75 and older and front-line essential workers will be the next to be vaccinated. / Screenshot of Associated Press report
In Phase 1C, seniors aged 65 to 74, potentially health risks from 16 to 64 and other non-frontline essential workers will be placed for vaccination, but they will have to wait longer.
According to the forecast of CDC officials, about 20 million people will start vaccination in December. By January 2021, this number will increase to 30 million, and another 50 million people will be vaccinated in February. The cumulative number of vaccinated people in three months is about 100 million, accounting for about the total population of the United States. One third. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the timetable for vaccination of the American people is expected to be later than originally planned.
