(CNN Español) – The first batches of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine have already reached countries such as the United States and Canada. This weekend, the FDA and the CDC not only approved the emergency use of the vaccine, but marked vaccination guidelines.
Among the novelties, they added adolescents between 16 and 17 years old among the people who must receive the vaccine. What should you know before receiving it? Dr. Elmer Huerta tells you in this episode.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform, or read the transcript below.
Hi, I’m Dr. Elmer Orchard and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus. Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
Undoubtedly, the news about the implementation of the national vaccination program against covid-19 in the United States was advancing at a very fast pace.
Pfizer vaccine: the announcement of its effectiveness
With the signature of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, officially accepted vaccination of the population with the mRNA vaccine, developed by the German laboratory BioNTech in partnership with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
With this signature, the most important vaccination campaign of the American population is also officially launched. It is perhaps only comparable to that which began in February 1954, when a group of schoolchildren were the first to receive the first polio vaccine.
Let us remember first, and this is very important for the transparency of the process – and to gain the trust of the population – that this last procedure is the culmination of a process that began when, in a press release published on November 9 , the Pfizer laboratory announces that its vaccine had achieved an effectiveness of more than 90%.
Subsequently, Pfizer announced that a new analysis of its data, showed that its vaccine had reached 95% effectiveness and that it was requesting an authorization as an emergency to the Drug and Food Administration (FDA, for its acronym in English).
FDA approval
The meeting, held on December 10, approved by 17 votes to 4, with one abstention, approving the use, as an emergency, of the Pfizer vaccine.
That same night, the FDA accepted the recommendation of its advisory committee, which was later handed over to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which approved the FDA’s recommendation.
On December 12, the ACIP determined who would be the people who should be vaccinated, recommendations that, as on Thursday, Dr.
The recommendations of the CDC
First, the CDC reaffirms that the first to be vaccinated will be health workers as residents of long-term care centers.
Residents of long-term care centers are those adults who live in places that provide a variety of services, including medical and personal care to those who cannot live independently, such as nursing homes.
For their part, healthcare staff include those paid and unpaid people who provide services in healthcare settings and who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to the virus or infectious materials.
These groups not only include health care workers who care for patients, but also service workers such as food, laundry, cleaning, etc., which enable the health system to function.
Adolescents will be able to receive the Pfizer vaccine
But in an important decision, the committee has recommended extending the age of vaccinated people, and including 16- and 17-year-olds.
At the ACIP meeting, Dra. Yvonne Maldonado, a representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said this age group should not be denied the vaccine, as they often have essential or front-line jobs that put them at greater risk of infection.
He also said that he is very concerned that he is sending the message that this vaccine will not be safe for children.
Another important decision is the relationship to vaccination of pregnant or breastfeeding women.
In this regard, the committee does not recommend vaccinating groups that are due to the absence of scientific data that may support a recommendation, standardizing the wait for data from the Toxicity Studies for Development and Reproduction phase component. 3 of the Pfizer clinical trial.
In this regard, in the coming days, await the recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Could people with allergies receive the vaccine?
With regard to people with allergies, it is recommended that the vaccine be given to people with allergies, but not to those with a history of severe allergies to any component of the vaccine.
Because it is impossible to know if a person is allergic to any component of the vaccine, it has been suggested that if someone has had an allergic reaction to any injection, they should consult their doctor before receiving the vaccine.
So because many of the components of an injection may be present in the vaccine as well.
In an unexpected decision, the committee recommended including in the group of people who should be vaccinated, people who have already had the infection. On the other hand, people who have a symptomatic active case of covid-19 should not receive the vaccine until they recover from the disease. In both cases, they must be less than 3 months old from the infection before receiving the vaccine.
And in the event that a person has had suspicious contact with an infected person, they should not receive the vaccine until the end of their quarantine period – which as we saw in the episode of December 3 – should be 10 days.
Finally, the committee noted that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, despite using the same messenger RNA platform, are not interchangeable, meaning that if someone received the first dose of Pfizer for example, they cannot receive the second dose of Moderna and vice versa.
Do you have questions about coronavirus?
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