Plugging in cancers can prevent you in Pennsylvania from at least getting sick – at least as far as COVID-19 is concerned.
The state is pushing smokers in front of the vaccine line because the habit makes you more vulnerable to the disease, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said Friday.
All people between the ages of 16 and 64 with a high-risk medical condition, including smoking cigarettes, were added to the first phase of the coronavirus-state vaccine vaccine distribution plan in the Keystone.
‘Pennsylvania has chosen to [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] recommendations and includes smoking among the list of medical conditions that put individuals at greater risk, ”a representative of the department of health told the station.
Smokers are now eligible for the potentially life-saving shots, along with health workers, residents of nursing homes and people 65 and older under Phase 1A of the plan.
It was not immediately clear how the state would verify if anyone was a smoker, and a health department spokesman did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that people aged 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions be included in Phase 1C of the vaccine award plan. But each state is free to adapt the plan, but it will think well.
New Jersey and Mississippi are also currently offering the vaccine to smokers under the age of 65.