CDC panel recommends Covid-19 vaccines for front-line workers over 75

The next group would include people aged 75 and over, whose hospitalization and death rates are the highest of all age groups. It would also include teachers, factory workers, police and firefighters, grocery store workers and others who are considered essential to the functioning of the economy and at high risk of exposure to Covid-19.

A third group, followed by people aged 65 to 74, would be followed by anyone 16 years of age or older with a medical condition that puts them at high risk for complications from Covid-19 and others. essential workers. These include people working in transport and logistics, food services, water and wastewater and energy sectors.

The recommendations were made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which voted 13-1 for.

ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should receive vaccines and how they should be used. If the recommendation is accepted by the director, then these groups will be given the vaccine after first-line health care workers and nursing home residents who are now vaccinated.

The decision to include older people in the next priority group marks a change for ACIP, which last month considered giving priority to key workers among older generations for vaccines in early 2021. This position was based on the argument that Like health care workers, key workers put their lives on the line to keep the economy and society running.

In addition, many key workers are older, have high-risk medical conditions, and come from racial and ethnic groups and lower-income populations who have suffered disproportionately high rates of severe disease, according to the CDC.

But some government officials, health experts and members of the public have withdrawn, arguing that the nation’s priority should be to protect older Americans.

People aged 75 and over make up 8% of the population but 25% of hospitalizations and have by far the highest mortality rate of all age groups, according to the CDC. Their hospitalization rates have also risen faster in recent weeks than other age groups, the agency said.

Jose Romero, president of ACIP and secretary of health in Arkansas, said deciding how to prioritize groups was painful. “This is, without a doubt, the hardest vote I have taken in the six and a half years of the commission,” he said.

Henry Bernstein, a pediatrician at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra / Northwell Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY, did not cast a single vote, he said, because he believes the second priority group should include people who they start at the age of 65. Their risks are similar to those over 75, he said.

Pablo Sanchez, a neonatologist at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who voted yes, agreed. “I really feel that the elderly and those with high-risk medical conditions should be in front of key workers who may be younger,” he said.

The recommendations are intended to guide local government and health officials and the 64 jurisdictions in which vaccines are distributed, but can be adjusted according to their circumstances, the CDC said.

The group’s recommendations come after the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Coverna-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc. to be used in the country, the second to receive the green light. The first vaccine to receive authorization was from Pfizer Inc.

and BioNTech SE.

ACIP approved the use of the Moderna vaccine by adults on Saturday.

On Sunday, trucks began delivering the Moderna fire to health departments, hospitals and other vaccination sites.

The launch of the second shot will almost double the supply of inoculations. It will also make vaccines more accessible to vaccination sites in more rural or hard-to-reach areas that do not have the special freezers needed to store Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in ultra-cold temperatures. The CDC said on Sunday that 556,208 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were given in the first week.

According to current government forecasts, enough vaccines are expected to be available to inoculate 20 million people in December, 30 million in January and 50 million in February.

This means that if most people in the priority groups receive the vaccine, it could take until early January until enough is available for the entire top group – 24 million health workers and nursing home residents. Then, it may take some time in February for sufficient doses to be available for the second group of 49 million elderly people and essential front-line workers. The third group has 129 million people, according to the CDC.

Recent polls suggest that about 60% of people in the United States intend to receive the vaccine.

Reaching any of these groups will be more difficult than finding health workers and nursing home residents who can be vaccinated at their units. Many people will have to look for clinics or pharmacies where they can get the shot. Companies may have vaccination clinics, but should plan free time for workers who need a day or two to resolve the pain or fever that may develop as side effects.

Several ACIP members have asked the federal government to provide funding to public health departments to help deliver vaccines to people who do not have regular access to health care or cannot take time off to go to a doctor’s office.

“My concern is that without this funding, the equitable distribution of the vaccine to groups that have been identified as being at greatest risk could be jeopardized,” said Robert Atmar, a professor of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. .

Write to Betsy McKay at [email protected]