UK Core Issue: How Do We Distribute COVID Vaccines?

 With the pandemic, there have been talks of a vaccine coming, almost like how there is a flu vaccine every year that is created in response to the new strains of influenza that might possibly mutate in each new flu season. While there isn't a vaccine just yet, we still need to be prepared for how it will be distributed when it does come, and how we can vaccinate everyone efficiently. The question has been posed: how would you distribute a Covid vaccine to all the residents of Fayette County, Kentucky (the county the University of Kentucky is in)? If there were only vaccinations available for 1/3 of the county population, who gets vaccinated first? How do you ensure the vaccine gets to who needs it most? 

To start, the population of Fayette County, Kentucky is 323,152. A third of that is 107,717. I believe that the first people who need to receive the vaccine are college students/faculty. I think this because a good majority of college students live on campus in college dorms. These dorms are usually either a 2 or 4 person dorm room, where there is shared living space. If one person were to get Covid in the dorm/dorm room, it is very likely that whoever else lives in the room or in the dorm itself will also contract the virus. Not only that but if the people with Covid have in-person classes, or goes to different places on campus, it is likely that the virus can spread easily. To ensure everyone on campus gets vaccinated, I would do what the Unversity of Kentucky plans to do with the flu vaccine: give a certain time frame on when to get the vaccine, and provide documentation for receiving the vaccine, as well as making it mandatory for everyone on the campus to receive the vaccine. The number of students that came to campus for the fall semester of 2020 is 25,339. Taking that number from 1/3 of the Fayette county population leaves us with 82,378 people still receiving the vaccine. 

Taking this into account, I believe the vaccines should then go to either the vulnerable population (such as those with pre-existing conditions that may be more likely to contract the virus and/or the older population in the county) or essential workers. To ensure the vulnerable population gets vaccinated, I would suggest there be certain places in the county that would be easily accessible (such as a local Kroger parking lot) where the vulnerable people can go to receive their vaccine. If it were given to the essential workers, I would suggest people be administered the vaccine whenever they go into work for their next shift in the span of 2 weeks.