Cherokee Nation To Put Native Language Speakers High On Vaccine Priority List

The Cherokee Nation expects to get its first allotment of COVID-19 vaccines next week.

The Nation has 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine coming in the first batch, which will go to healthcare workers. Cherokee Elders, especially native language speakers, are also high on the priority list.

"We've lost 20 of those speakers, in recent months, strictly to COVID,” Cherokee Nation Chief of Staff Todd Enlow said. “So, we're doing everything we can to try and protect those speakers and those that hold our culture during this whole pandemic."

The Cherokee nation has almost 900 frontline health workers they hope to vaccinate as soon as possible and about 2,700 employees in critical positions, many who interact with the elderly.