How Do We Distribute COVID Vaccines?
The issue of distributing a vaccine when there are limited resources is challenging; there are multiple factors that must be considered. Assuming there are only enough vaccine for a third of the county population, firstly we must consider population density.
In this map provided by social explorer, we can see the population density of Fayette County. Overall, we can see most of the density belongs to the University of Kentucky. Population density is an important factor in distribution of vaccination because vaccines must be administered to those that can provide herd immunity to the rest of the inhabitants of an area. In simpler terms, to be most effective, one must administer vaccines to people who come in contact with the most amount of people in order to attempt to contain the virus and protect those who may not be able to obtain the vaccine as well. Looking at the current population of Fayette as of 2019, there are around 323,152 people living in the county. This means we have roughly 100,000 vaccines to be administered. The University of Kentucky states that "UK's campus now covers more than 716 acres and is home to more than 30,000 students and 14,000 employees". If a vaccine were to be administered to all staff and all students, this would account for around 45,000 of the 100,000 vaccines, which in my opinion could be done. Students account for a large amount of disease spread due to living in close proximity in dorms, going to classes and sitting in large lecture halls, participating in Greek life and going to parties, etc. It would be important to firstly deliver the vaccine to those living in resident halls because of their extreme close proximity to one another and the high density of people in one building. After this, it would be important to administer the vaccine to any other students living on campus, whether that be Greek housing or those living in houses and apartments near campus for similar reasons. I would then distribute the vaccination to all staff members at the University of Kentucky because the students come in contact with them often. As for athletes, I would put focus on them next because competing with different teams around the county could easily lead to a breakout infection back at Kentucky. Finally, I would then give vaccines to everyone else that did not fit into any of those brackets last.
Now that the vaccine has been distributed to everyone that participates on campus, we need to worry about those who live in Fayette that do not go to University of Kentucky. We need to look at some contextual factors about the county of Fayette. What jobs have the highest number of people coming in contact with one another? How with the poor receive the vaccine if it is not affordable? Those that have less income can effectively contribute to the spread of a disease due to less frequent medical related appointments, less health care, and more time spent working (more contact with others due to less free time). So, I looked up the most frequent/common jobs in Fayette county and found that "The most common employment sectors for those who live in Fayette County, KY, are Educational Services (26,024 people), Health Care & Social Assistance (24,068 people), and Retail Trade (21,649 people)". I would distribute vaccines to medical professionals so that they do not easily spread the virus (roughly 25,000 people). Our vaccine distrubtion number is now at 70% of our total allotted vaccinations. I would now vaccinate those working in retail trade because they come in contact with a huge amount of people every day. We are now around 91,000 vaccines distributed. I would then distribute the rest to students at the high school level or lower, which would account for almost the rest of the allotted vaccines.
