by Phillip W. Magness
The American Institute for Economic Research
Three and a half months have passed since we first received news of a highly effective Covid-19 vaccination, yet in all but a few locales the rollout has proceeded at a snail’s pace. Part of the lag comes from an understandable push to prioritize the most vulnerable persons for a disease with a pronounced age gradient, yet simply being 65+ is still not sufficient to qualify for a vaccination in many states.
Instead, you’ll find that large swaths of the country remain mired in the early substages of “Phase 1-A” in a hyper-bureaucratized vaccine rollout plan. Depending on the state, this might entail some sensibly prioritized groups such as nursing home workers and patient-facing healthcare professionals, although it also displays a noticeable overlap with other “essential” jobs in government, law enforcement, and education.