Throughout 2020, the world has had to learn the value of patience like no other time before. Patience as we waited to learn how to navigate our “new normal.” Patience as we waited for the time in which we could be with our friends and family once more.

Now 2021 is here, and with it, vaccines that could make our return to daily life, and its visits and communal gatherings possible once more. Yet even with this new hope, once more we are required to exercise patience. Each state has been given a limited number of doses, and with those doses, they are also given the ability to control the way in which the vaccines are administered. Most every state has prioritized senior residence workers and residents as the first recipients of the two-dose vaccination. Currently, the rollouts are prioritized as follows:

South Carolina
Phase 1a includes:

  • Healthcare workers
  • Initial focus on frontline healthcare workers at high risk of exposure and mission-critical to the overarching goal of preventing death
  • Residents and staff of long-term care facilities
  • Admitted hospital patients, who are aged 65 years and older, as long as they do not currently have COVID-19 and a provider feels it is indicated for them
  • All people aged 70 years and older

Florida
Phase 1a includes:

  • Healthcare workers
  • Residents and staff of long-term care facilities

Phase 1b includes:

  • All seniors ages 65 and over

Like other vaccines, the COVID-19 vaccination requires two doses for maximum coverage, administered weeks apart. This means that for the millions of people in each state, double that number is required for immunity. As the states learn to streamline administration of the limited supply, there will be confusion and no doubt, frustration, throughout the process. This is where the lessons learned in 2020 come in to play.

Patience. The health and safety of our seniors is the top priority for us all, and they, more than any other group, understand patience like no other. Our seniors can look through the lens of history and understand that while things seem uncertain now, resolution will come soon. And therein lies the hope for not only a better year, but a better and healthier future for us all.