COVID-19 vaccine distribution: who gets them and how fast?

University Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bryan Alsip addresses a number of questions about COVID-19 vaccines and their distribution – and whether we can drop the masks once we get the shot (hint: no).

Dr. Alsip answers the following questions:

• How does the vaccine get out to the public?
• Who is in charge of distributing it?
• Who gets it first?
• When will we be able to get it at most pharmacies, like a flu shot?
• Once I get a vaccine, can I relax and stop worrying about all this masking and distance?
• Emergency Use Authorization: How risky is that?
• How do you encourage people to take a new vaccine that was made faster than the usual process when they’re already worried about vaccines?
• Who pays for it?
• If you get one dose of a two-dose vaccine, and another vaccine comes out that is better, can you switch to another vaccine for your second dose?
• Could you get one vaccine and if a better one comes out a month later, could you get that one too?
• What percentage of the public needs to get the vaccine to achieve herd immunity?
• Does that mean that even people who have been vaccinated or who have had COVID-19 must continue to mask and distance?
• Could the vaccine’s efficacy decline?