CDC to Dole Out $200M for COVID-19 Vaccine Preparedness

HHS recently announced that the CDC will provide $200 million to 64 jurisdictions for COVID-19 vaccine preparedness.  

CDC will award the funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to the jurisdictions through the Immunizations and Vaccines for Children cooperative agreement. These funds and previous support from the CDC will help states prepare for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Additionally, funding will provide infrastructure support to grantees through CDC’s immunization cooperative agreement. 

“By building on close partnerships with the states and other jurisdictions we have worked with for years on vaccination programs, we have the ability to begin distributing and administering safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines as soon as they are authorized and available,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar, said in the announcement. 

“With these $200 million in new funds, jurisdictions can develop and update plans for the eventual distribution and administration of the safe and effective vaccines that will help bring this pandemic to an end. The federal government, including experts from CDC and the Department of Defense, is ready to assist where necessary.”

CDC Director Robert Redfield added that the agency “has worked for decades with state and local jurisdictions to deliver tens of millions of doses of vaccine every year.” The agency will now work closely with the 64 jurisdictions chosen as grantees to “refine and update vaccination plans in preparation for the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine program.”

Funding to the jurisdictions will be based on a population-based formula. 

For example, CDC awarded $6.2 million to the Illinois Department of Public Health and $1.9 million to the Chicago Department of Public Health to help prepare for distribution of a safe and effective vaccine once approved.

“All Illinoisans deserve access to the best healthcare possible—and that means equal access for all to the COVID-19 vaccine when it is safe, effective and ready for the masses,” US Senator Tammy Duckworth said in the announcement.

Throughout the pandemic, HHS and the Department of Defense (DoD), have worked to boost COVID-19 vaccine response efforts. 

At the beginning of September, HHS issued guidance under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act to expand access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. 

The guidance authorizes state-licensed pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals three years of age and older, subject to specific requirements. 

Pharmacists must also meet several requirements, including completing a practical training program, have basic certification in CPR, and complete a minimum of two hours of immunization-related continuing pharmacy education.

Additionally, the licensed pharmacists must comply with recordkeeping and reporting requirements when administering vaccines, with any applicable requirements introduced in the CDC vaccination provider agreement and inform the patient of the importance of a visit with a care provider following the vaccination.

Last week, HHS and the DoD also released two documents outlining the Trump Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution strategy. The strategy centers on promoting vaccine confidence and uptake, prioritizing distribution of the vaccine, ensuring safe administration, and monitoring data from the vaccination program.

CDC is also drawing on its years of planning and cooperation with state and local public health partners to “ensure a safe, effective, and life-saving COVID-19 vaccine is ready to be distributed following FDA approval,” Redfield said in the announcement last week. 

“Through the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, CDC will play a vital role in deciding, based on input from experts and stakeholders, how initial, limited vaccine doses will be allocated and distributed while reliably producing more than 100 million doses by January 2021.”