The CDC Panel recommends Covid-19 vaccines for front-line workers, people over 75 years of age

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

They would be followed by a third group, made up of people aged 65 to 74, anyone aged 16 or over with a disease that puts them at high risk for complications from Covid-19 and other essential workers. They include people working in transportation 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 in favor.

ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should receive vaccines and how they should be used. If the director accepts the recommendation, these groups will be offered the vaccine after the front-line health workers and residents of the residences who are now being 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 over older generations for vaccines in early 2021. This position was based on in the argument that, like health care workers, essential workers are putting their lives on the line of keeping the economy and society afloat.

In addition, many essential 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 serious illness, according to the CDC.

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

According to the CDC, people aged 75 and over account for 8% of the population, but 25% of hospitalizations and have the highest mortality rate of all age groups. Their hospitalization rates have also risen more rapidly in recent weeks than other age groups, the agency said.

Jose Romero, president of ACIP and health secretary in Arkansas, said deciding how to prioritize groups was heartbreaking. “This is definitely the toughest vote I’ve made in my six and a half years on the committee,” he said.

Henry Bernstein, a pediatrician at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra / Northwell Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, did not give the only vote, he said, because he believes the second priority group should include people from the age of 65. Their risks are similar to those 75 and older, 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 strongly that older people and those with high-risk medical illnesses really should be facing some essential workers who may be younger,” he said.

The recommendations are intended to guide state and local governors and health officials in the 64 jurisdictions where vaccines are distributed, but can be adjusted based on their situations, the CDC said.

The group’s recommendations come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine. for use in the country, the second to receive the green light. The first vaccine to receive authorization was from Pfizer Inc.

and BioNTech SE.

The ACIP approved on Saturday the use of the Modern vaccine by adults.

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

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

According to current government projections, there are expected to be enough vaccines 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 get the vaccine, it may take until early January until there is enough available for the entire upper group: 24 million health workers and residential residents. It could then take up to a few months in February to have sufficient doses 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 surveys suggest that about 60% of people in the U.S. intend to get vaccinated, however.

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

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

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

Write to Betsy McKay to [email protected]