LETTER: Questioning priorities when it comes to COVID vaccine

It would seem reasonable to give the second supply of the vaccine to the group of people who are most likely to die if they contracted the coronavirus. More than 70 percent of COVID deaths occur in the over-65 age group. Yet that group is in the third tier of the Nevada plan, behind educational faculty, retail workers and even prison inmates.

It is reasonable to give the first supply to health care workers and long-term care residents (most of which are over 65 years of age).

I think the first aim of the state’s program should be to reduce deaths. This plan doesn’t. It does reduce the chance of getting the virus for groups of people who have a small chance of dying.

Yet it leaves the group of people who have a great risk of dying — the over-65 years of age group — to wait months to get the vaccine. This means the number of deaths per day will still be significant over the next several months or until that group gets the vaccine.