If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride said a Scottish proverb around 1628. That’s equally true when it comes to the coronavirus, wrote Maggie Fox on CNN on December 13, 2020. We can wish things were different, Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui told her. But warp speed doesn’t mean vaccine tomorrow. In fact, it will probably only reach the entire U.S. population by June 2021.
Warp Speed Doesn’t Mean Vaccine Tomorrow in Terms of Production
It’s a massive job reaching 328 million people across a vast subcontinent. We can immunize 20 million December, 30 million January, 50 million in February,” Slaoui said previously. But that’s assuming the manufacturers can produce those quantities, and already a few gremlins are showing.
Pfizer has adjusted it’s time line. Moderna has never manufactured commercially before. Moreover, there’s also the not-so-small problem of people refusing the vaccine for a variety of reasons, and pushing back hard. The nation is already polarized about the wisdom of this, and there’s no sign of it moving off the political agenda.
Distribution May Seem Unfair Especially If You Want the Vaccine
Warp speed doesn’t mean vaccine tomorrow even if you want it. Centers for Disease Control issued guidelines, but state and local authorities will have the final say. There’s unanimity health-care workers, nursing home residents, and patients in rehabilitation facilities should come first.
But it’s going to get sticky after that, says CNN’s Maggie Fox. That’s because the next category, essential workers are tougher to define. They probably include teachers, people in law enforcement, firefighters and people who work in food production.
The third priority group will likely be persons with underlying conditions including those over the age of 65. So if you are younger and healthy (and want the vaccine) you’ll have to be patient a while longer. Because wishes are not horses, or a priority place in the queue.
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