The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) released two documents on September 16, 2020, outlining the Administration’s detailed strategy to deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to the American people.
The documents, developed by HHS in coordination with DoD and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provide a strategic distribution overview along with an interim playbook for state, Tribal, territorial, and local public health programs and their partners on how to plan and operationalize a vaccination response to COVID-19 within their respective jurisdictions.
The National Indian Health Board has been engaged in tracking the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. On July 30, 2020, NIHB, joined by the National Congress of American Indians and National Council of Urban Indian Health submitted a letter to House and Senate appropriators urging them to ensure a minimum 5% statutory set-aside in funding for COVID-19 vaccine distribution for the Indian Health Service, Tribal Nations, and urban Indian organizations in this next COVID-19 pandemic relief package. Read the full letter here. On Friday, September 4, 2020, the National Indian Health Board submitted comments to the National Academies in response to a public comment period on their draft Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus. Read NIHB’s comment letter here.
Read the full press release from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Download the Strategy for Distributing a COVID-19 Vaccine – PDF*
Download the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook – PDF
Download the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Process Infographic – PDF