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US outlines sweeping plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines
Sep 16, 2020 1 min, 30 secs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, assuming a safe and effective shot is developed, even as top health officials faced questions about political interference with virus information reaching the public.

The news followed revelations that the senior communications official had tried to gain editorial control over scientific publications on COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he contended were hurting the Trump administration.

“The Trump administration needs to leave the science to the scientists immediately,” Murray said.

Although Trump asserted Tuesday that a vaccine could be three to four weeks away, Redfield, made clear to Congress that any version available this year would be in “very limited supply.” The shot wouldn’t be broadly available to most of the U.S.

As for the planned vaccine campaign, the CDC playbook for states says it is “much larger in scope and complexity than seasonal influenza or other previous outbreak-related vaccination responses.” Redfield said that his agency will be working with state health officials to execute the vaccination plan in coming days.

“Early in (the) COVID-19 vaccination program there may be a limited supply of vaccine and vaccine efforts may focus on those critical to the response, providing direct care and maintaining societal functions, as well as those at highest risk for developing severe illness,” Redfield said.

— The vaccine itself will be free of charge, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration.

As public confidence in health agencies has taken a beating, Trump administration officials have been forced to play defense.

to ensure that Americans can receive the vaccine as soon as possible and vaccinate with confidence,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement Wednesday.

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