Ross: Who gets COVID vaccine first once its available to the public?

When will we have a COVID-19 vaccine? Yesterday, Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC, told senators the following:

“You ask me when is it going to be generally available to the American public so we can begin to [take] advantage of a vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think you are talking about late second quarter, third quarter 2021,” he predicted.

Late second quarter would be sometime next June, so he’s saying that members of the general public don’t get a vaccine for at least eight months.

But the president – who’s been predicting vaccinations in October – immediately challenged that.

“It’s just incorrect information,” Trump claimed. “No, we’re ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced.”

However, Dr. Redfield was clear about why public vaccinations would be delayed: It’s so that first responders and people with pre-existing conditions can get them first.

“Hard to believe, but there’s about 80 million people in our country that have significant co-morbidities that put themselves at risk,” he pointed out. “They have to get vaccinated, and then the general public.”

Now I suppose the President could order public vaccinations in October if he wanted to, but based on Dr. Redfield’s testimony, that would mean skipping over the first responders and people with pre-existing conditions.

Unless the President knows something that Dr. Redfield doesn’t, in which case he should at least shoot the guy a quick tweet before he testifies.

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