This would put those people in “Phase 1b” of national vaccine allocation.
This committee vote also included prioritizing adults aged 65 to 75, people aged 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions and “other essential workers” in “phase 1c” of allocation.
“They really serve to address the current shortage of vaccine supplies and to address those most at risk for disease,” said Dr. José Romero, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and secretary of the Department of Health in Arkansas, about recommendations. .
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met on Sunday to discuss phases 1b and 1c of vaccine distribution.
There are two Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – currently authorized for emergency use in the United States.
Who is an essential worker?
A working group in the Advisory Committee defined key frontline workers as “workers who are in sectors essential to the functioning of the company and have a substantially higher risk of exposure” to the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Key workers in the first phase of Phase 1b include respondents, people in the education sector, those working in the food and agriculture sector, those in the manufacturing industry, postal service workers, US postal service workers, public transport workers, and grocery store workers.
There are an estimated 30 million essential frontline workers in the United States.
The category of other key workers in Phase 1c includes transport and logistics, food services, construction and housing and housing, finance, IT and communications, the energy sector, the media, the legal sector, public safety and the water and wastewater industries.
There are an estimated 57 million other key workers in the United States.
The hardest vote
“This is, without a doubt, the hardest vote I have made in the six and a half years of the commission,” Romero said.
“I am confident that we have achieved this by examining the data in detail and that what we provide – as mentioned earlier – the final decision will be at the local level. But what we provide to governors and health officials is a framework that is supported. of evidence, “Romero said.
He voted “yes” to the proposed recommendations for phase 1b and 1c.
A member of the committee, Dr. Peter Szilagyi, who voted “yes”, agreed that the decision was difficult.
“I really want everyone to get the vaccine today, and I know high-risk people are not included in Phase 1b,” said Szilagyi, who is in the pediatrics department at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But in a few months, as the supply of vaccines increases, every American will have access to these safe and effective vaccines.”
The “no” vote came from Dr. Henry Bernstein, who is a professor of pediatrics at the Zucker School of Medicine in Hofstra. Bernstein explained that he voted no because he felt that the science of Covid-19 morbidity and mortality was similar between the age group of 65 to 74 and the age group of 75 and older.
“Therefore, including the 65- to 74-year-old group in phase 1b made more sense to me,” Bernstein said.
The need for funding
In their vote, a majority of committee members also called on the government to fully fund vaccination programs of state and local health departments.
“The fact that the state and local health departments were not funded for the vaccination program, especially in the context of the billions of dollars that funded the extremely successful program to develop vaccines, is really awful,” said Dr. Beth Bell, who voted “yes” to the proposal.
“I’m just a person, but I’d like to say again that I hope the government will address this discrepancy, without which I think it’s going to be very difficult to be successful,” said Bell, a clinical professor in the global health department. from the University of Washington.
The recommendations of the Phase 1b and 1c Advisory Committee go to the CDC for final acceptance.