WEDNESDAY, Jan. 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) — On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced it would recommend a COVID-19 vaccine for every American older than 65 years, as it tries to speed up the nation’s vaccine rollout.
Health officials also recommended that COVID-19 vaccines be given to all adults with preexisting conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection, The New York Times reported. Right now, the vaccines are largely being distributed to people in the highest-risk categories, including frontline health care workers and older people and staff in nursing homes. More community centers and pharmacies will also be added to the list of places where people can be vaccinated.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will also no longer hold back vaccine doses to ensure that those who receive a first dose will have a second dose in reserve. Instead, all existing doses will be sent to states to provide initial inoculations, The Times reported.
Just days ago, President-Elect Joseph Biden’s aides said his administration would make a similar adjustment by using more of the already-procured vaccines for initial doses. Biden’s team said it would aim to distribute the doses more quickly at federally run vaccination sites in high school gyms and sports stadiums and send mobile units to reach high-risk populations.
As of Tuesday, nearly 27.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been distributed and more than 9.3 million have made their way into patients’ arms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
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