LETTER: Nevada’s vaccine plan leaves much to be desired

Gov Steve Sisolak has received a great deal of criticism for his management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada. While his decisions have imposed restrictions that were inconvenient, caused personal, economic and mental hardship and unnecessary deaths due to lack of medical care, suicide and an over-reliance on “face coverings” for protection, none has been as potentially deadly as his tiered plan for the roll-out of the COVID vaccine.

According to CDC guidelines (updated Dec 3), the roll-out of the vaccine should have the goal to “decrease death and serious disease as much as possible” and should be guided by the ethical principle to “maximize benefits and minimize harm.” In keeping with this,the agency specifically recommends that in the initial phase, when supplies are limited, the vaccination should be offered to “health care personnel, workers in essential and critical industries … people at high risk for severe COVID illness due to underlying medical conditions and people 65 years and older.”

Based on these data and recommendations, one would assume that the governor would include people at high risk and those 65 and older in the first tier of his four-tiered plan for the Nevada vaccine roll-out. But these groups are included in Tier 3 and will not receive the vaccine until several months from now.

So while the vaccine supply is limited, the most vulnerable groups that have the highest risk of hospitalization and death will have to wait several months until the vaccine is readily available. This defies common sense, scientific data and ethics. Once again the governor disappoints.