On Dec. 30, 2020, the Tennessee Department of Health made their phased COVID-19 vaccination plan available to the public via the state’s website.
In the document, State Health officials outlined their timeline for distributing the Pfizer and Moderna Coronavirus vaccines, as well as procedures for allocation, transportation and storage of vaccine doses across Tennessee’s 95 counties.
Currently, the state is in phase 1a1 of the planned multi-phased approach. Beginning in the middle of December, Tennessee officials began vaccinating front-line medical staff and residents of long-term care facilities. As the plan moves into 2021, officials will then begin vaccinating all other health care workers, funeral and mortuary staff, school and childcare workers, individuals with co-morbidities, and subsequently employees working in “critical” fields. The final phase, phase 3, will include individuals in communal living arrangements and Tennessee Department of Corrections inmates.
UTM’s student health care workers will be the first on campus to receive the vaccine, as they are included as eligible in phase 1a1.
Running alongside the phased vaccine program, vaccinations will become available to Tennesseans based on their age group, with those 75 and older becoming eligible first.
Here’s what that means for UTM students.
A large portion of students will be eligible for vaccination, according to the state’s current roadmap, during phase 3 if they live in a dorm or on-campus housing. These are considered by the state to be “communal living arrangements.” Phase 3 is intended to begin towards the end of Q2, or, in other words, students living on campus could receive vaccines as early as May or June.
Students living off-campus will be eligible for vaccination by age group. Since the majority of UTM students are under 35, they will become eligible in Q4, which is between October and December of 2021.
The long time-table is a symptom of the lack of supply in vaccines. The state’s report estimates that supply will ramp up over time, but so will demand as larger populations become eligible for vaccination. The state has also made vulnerable populations such as ethnic and racial minorities a central pillar of their vaccine distribution system.
The timeframe of distribution may also be affected by other outside factors. Doses may become more or less available, depending on the course of the disease and production capacity going into 2021.
As for right now, however, plan to have your first dose of the coronavirus vaccine sometime in late 2021.
You can view the full state report here.
Image Credit / WREG 3 Memphis
