Federal Government Just Unveiled New Plans To Help Make COVID-19 Vaccine Free For All Americans

The Department of Defense, working with other federal health agencies, has outlined new plans for the COVID-19 vaccine that will include making it available for all Americans in the country completely for free.

The plans in question were revealed in a report given to Congress, along with a “playbook” for states and local governments according to a report published by the Associated Press. The agencies are looking or a possible beginning of the vaccination campaign sometime around January of next year, though it’s still possible at this point that a vaccine could be prepared sometime later this year.

via Fox News:

“We are working closely with our state and local public health partners … to ensure that Americans can receive the vaccine as soon as possible and vaccinate with confidence,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement.

Vaccinations would start gradually among some segments of the population – such as health workers, other essential workers, and the more vulnerable – before eventually ramping up for distribution to all who want it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s playbook, the vaccination campaign will be “much larger in scope and complexity than seasonal influenza or other previous outbreak-related vaccination responses.”

While this is exciting news for a lot of folks, a poll conducted back in May indicated that 20 percent of people wouldn’t be taking the vaccine, while another 31 percent were unsure of whether or not they would take it once it became available.

Government officials who have been working on getting a vaccine put together have stated that politics will not play a role in the development of the vaccine and that if it is approved it will be so because it has met the standards for safety and effectiveness.