COVID-19 vaccine distribution: who gets them and how fast?
University Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bryan Alsip addresses a number of questions about COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution – and whether we can drop the masks once we get the shot (hint: no).
Dr. Alsip answers the following questions:
- How does the vaccine get out to the public?
- Who is in charge of distributing it?
- Who gets it first?
- When will we be able to get it at most pharmacies, like a flu shot?
- Once I get a vaccine, can I relax and stop worrying about all this masking and distance?
- Emergency Use Authorization: How risky is that?
- How do you encourage people to take a new vaccine that was made faster than the usual process when they’re already worried about vaccines?
- Who pays for it?
- If you get one dose of a two-dose vaccine, and another vaccine comes out that is better, can you switch to another vaccine for your second dose?
- Could you get one vaccine and if a better one comes out a month later, could you get that one too?
- What percentage of the public needs to get the vaccine to achieve herd immunity?
- Does that mean that even people who have been vaccinated or who have had COVID-19 must continue to mask and distance?
- Could the vaccine’s efficacy decline?
