South Carolina is prepared once COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, Gov. McMaster says
Though the White House and the country’s lead public health agency are hopeful a COVID-19 vaccine could go online as early as late October, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and state health officials on Thursday aimed to manage expectations, saying the state is prepared but has no idea when a vaccine might become available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month sent a memo to all 50 states asking health departments to prepare for an eventual vaccine. South Carolina has been preparing for such a vaccine for months in a partnership between the governor, the state’s public health agency and the state’s emergency management division, where McMaster spoke Thursday.
But when a vaccine is eventually approved, McMaster said the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control will be responsible for distributing it.
“The vaccine distribution program is expected to be a public health effort of significant scale,” requiring a “South Carolina effort” that will require everyone from emergency management, National Guard to “everyone in between,” McMaster said.
Stephen White, DHEC’s head of immunization, said Thursday the agency will follow federal guidance for vaccine distribution.
Meaning, White said, that limited doses will first be available to the most at-risk adult groups that include front-line medical workers, nursing home employees and residents and “critical infrastructure employees” outlined by the federal government.
Adults who get the vaccine will have to receive two doses, and both doses have to come from the same brand, White said.
Under the current plan, children will not qualify to get vaccinated, said White. Currently, the state requires children in fifth grade through 12th grade to get vaccinated for seven different diseases. By state statute, DHEC would decide whether a COVID-19 vaccine would be a requirement.
The state’s health department isn’t sure when a vaccine might become available.
That includes a vaccine trial happening in South Carolina.
So far, three different vaccines have been approved for Phase 3 trials in the United States. One of those trials, created by England-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is being tested by the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Those trials could produce results by the end of the year.
Once a vaccine does become available to everyone, the governor said Thursday every South Carolinian should get one.
But, without a vaccine now, DHEC’s acting director Marshall Taylor said South Carolina “must continue in a united fight against the virus” by continuing to social distance and wear masks.
Editor’s Note: The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control after publication clarified that the agency, not the Legislature, is responsible for deciding whether a COVID-19 vaccine would be a requirement for students to attend school.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 5:01 PM.
