I was doing a periodic panic rewatch of Contagion last night and was struck by the method used by the government to distribute the vaccine: a Powerball lottery of birthdates, not unlike how the United States drafted civilians for the Vietnam War — a random array of distribution designed to lead to herd immunity.
Is this where we’re headed? Not exactly. Contagion exists within a world where the federal government is a leader in fighting the virus, which is much more deadly and widespread. Usually, vaccines are first distributed according to need. For H1N1 in 2009, the vaccine went to young people first, the most vulnerable population for the disease; for Covid, it may go to older people and high transmission groups first, explains the New York Times.
Figuring out how the vaccine gets rolled out to the greater population is itself a multibillion-dollar question of logistics. Unlike the lottery of Contagion, it would likely be delivered state by state. Under the Trump administration, that rollout would have been fickle and politically motivated. (Trump recently said in a press conference that he would deny New York state the vaccine, just to be petty.) President-elect Biden’s plan is to use $25 billion to ensure an equitable distribution of the vaccine. Biden and Vice President-elect Harris would also initiate a Covid-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force to address concerns about distribution among minority groups.
At Medium’s Coronavirus Blog, Yasmin Tayag gets the scoop on McKesson Corporation, the company contracted by the White House to transport and deliver the vaccine.
The plan is that McKesson will deliver a specific amount of vaccine to a designated location once it’s allocated to a given jurisdiction or authorized partner. In many instances, says the spokesperson, these will be sites where the vaccine will actually be administered; in others, McKesson will deliver vaccines to sites where health departments will pick up the vaccine and further distribute it within their networks. National retail pharmacies will also use a similar system.