Desperate Don needs some votes

The federal government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, even as polls show a strong undercurrent of scepticism rippling across the land.

In a report to Congress and an accompanying "playbook" for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or possibly later this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot. The Pentagon is involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers will be the ones giving shots.

  al Jazeera

And why would the Pentagon be involved at all?

For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. Double-dose vaccines will have to come from the same drugmaker. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available.

Vaccination of the US population will not be a sprint but a marathon. Initially, there may be a limited supply of vaccines available, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees, and people in vulnerable groups. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the National Academy of Medicine, and other organisations are working on priorities for the first phase. A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire country.

The vaccine itself will be free of charge, and patients will not be charged out of pocket for the administration of shots, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration.

States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling, such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans.

[...]

But the whole enterprise is facing public scepticism. Only about half of Americans said they would get vaccinated in an Associated Press poll taken in May. Of those who would not get vaccinated, the overwhelming majority said they were worried about safety. To effectively protect the nation from the coronavirus, experts say upwards of 70 percent of Americans must either be vaccinated or have their own immunity from fighting off COVID-19.

[...]

"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," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement on Wednesday. "Americans should know that the vaccine development process is being driven completely by science and the data.

Unfortunately, with this administration, that's excactly what we can't know.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.