Tennessee is tweaking its vaccine distribution strategy again, releasing an updated plan Friday that moves the families of medically fragile children into the state’s 1c phase, along with patients who have poor health themselves.
Dr. Lisa Piercey, the state’s health commissioner, says these additions include residents of households with children on ventilators, or those who require the use of wheel chairs or other technology.
“When you talk about them, they can’t receive the vaccine,” she says. “But undoubtedly, if they were to get infected, they would have very severe and life-threatening consequences.”
No counties in Tennessee has yet moved to 1c recipients, though some smaller counties are already on 1b, which includes teachers and childcare workers.
The state has also elevated guards at prisons and jails to be vaccinated immediately. Piercey says they’re more important to vaccinate than the inmates because they go in and out of facilities and would be more likely to catch COVID in the community and bring it back in.
As risk-based vaccinations have proceeded, county health departments have been vaccinating seniors over 75. Next, instead of moving to 65 and up, the state announced Friday it will move to 70 and older, since COVID-19 has been so much more deadly at the higher end of that age bracket. Now the 65-and-older group is slated to start in March, though it depends on the county.
The highly contagious coronavirus strain is here
A lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that the new, more contagious strain of COVID-19 first identified in Britain is present in Tennessee — and has been for weeks.
State health officials say they’re not overly concerned, because it doesn’t seem the strain is more deadly. But there haven’t been studies determining whether the existing vaccines will still be effective against it.
The mutated virus does pass more easily, making it more important than ever for people to wear masks and keep their distance, Piercey says. She expects it will be the dominant strain of COVID in Tennessee by March.
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