COVID-19 Vaccination Planning

The Trump administration has begun assembling vaccine distribution working groups. Officials from the CDC, the Pentagon, and the administration’s Operation Warp Speed plan to conduct state site visits in California, Florida, Minnesota, and North Dakota to obtain information and develop “model approaches” for distribution. The plan is not yet public but has been confirmed by the four state health departments.

The start of vaccine distribution plans come amid calls by public health experts for a national strategy. Health experts have said that effectively distributing any authorized vaccines to a large proportion of the population will be crucial to stem the pandemic. CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Nancy Messonnier held the first call with state immunization programs last week and announced the CDC would begin a “micro-planning” stage.