Medical staff, elderly first to get shots, early spring for the general population
By JOSH RESNEK
The first truck and airplane load of vaccine have been shipped as of early this week.
On Wednesday, most hospitals throughout the nation were expecting deliveries of the vaccine.
The first round of doses exceeding 1 million or so will be distributed to hospitals, to doctors and nurses and hospital staff and to old age home employees as well as to first responders.
It is not known exactly when the vaccines will be made available to Cambridge Health Alliance Hospital employees (CHA) (formerly the Whidden) and to senior citizens living in local old age homes but that prospect is believed to be sometime this week for hospital employees and next week for the elderly shut inside nursing homes, according to the spokesperson for the CHA.
Federal officials have been telling the nation that the vaccine doses in the many millions will be made available to Americans by March or with some luck, by the end of February.
However, the vaccines arriving against a backdrop of the virus reaching true epidemic proportions in the United States, makes it unlikely that the early dosing of the vaccines for doctors and nurse, et cetera, will do much to tamp down the effects of the runaway virus.
Another difficulty is that about 50% of Americans polled say they will not take the vaccine for an abundance of reasons, which will defeat the true power of vaccination to wipe out the virus in the years to come.
Everett residents can expect to get shots at Walgreens and local CVS stores and at larger vaccination centers that will be set up in hospitals and health centers throughout the state sometime in March.
This is all part of a complicated distribution and vaccination plan set up by the federal government to accommodate the masses that will line up to be inoculated.
It is believed when the vaccine is made available to residents here, the first to be inoculated will be those suffering from pre-existing conditions that make them more susceptible to catching the virus.
In the meantime, residents of Everett must continue to take extreme precautions to stop the spread of the virus.
Social distancing and restrictions on gathering in public and private places are now being strengthened, again because of the further spread of the virus during the past two months.
With Christmas coming up, experts fear another round of extraordinary outbreak as we head into the New Year.