CDC Panel recommends Covid-19 vaccines for frontline workers, people over the age of 75

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

A third group would follow them, consisting of people between the ages of 65 and 74, anyone 16 or older with a medical condition that puts them at high risk for complications from Covid-19, and other essential workers. These include people who work in the transport and logistics, food service, water and wastewater and energy sectors.

The recommendations were made by the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, which voted in favor of 13-1.

The ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who should receive vaccines and how they should be used. If the advice is taken over by the director, these groups will be offered vaccine after primary care workers and nursing home residents who are now being vaccinated.

The decision to include the oldest people in the next priority group marks a shift for the ACIP, which last month considered prioritizing key workers over the oldest generations for vaccines by early 2021. That view was based on the argument that, like health care providers, essential workers risk their lives to keep the economy and society going.

In addition, many key workers are older, have high-risk medical conditions, and come from racial, ethnic and lower-income populations who have experienced a disproportionate number of serious illnesses, according to the CDC.

But some government officials, health experts, and members of the public pushed back, arguing that the country’s priority should be to protect the oldest Americans.

People 75 and older make up 8% of the population, but 25% of hospital admissions and have by far the highest death rate of any age group, according to the CDC. Their hospital admissions have also increased more rapidly in recent weeks than other age groups, the agency said.

Jose Romero, ACIP president and Arkansas Secretary of Health, said the decision on how to prioritize the groups was heartbreaking. “This is without a doubt the most difficult vote I’ve gotten in my six and a half years on committee,” he said.

Henry Bernstein, a pediatrician at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra / Northwell Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY, was the only one to give no vote, he said, believing the second priority group should include people from age aged 65. Their risks are comparable to those aged 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 believe that the elderly and those with high-risk medical conditions really need to be in the front line of some essential workers who may be younger,” he said.

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

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

and BioNTech SE.

The ACIP approved adult use of the Moderna vaccine on Saturday.

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

The launch of the second shot will almost double the supply of vaccinations. It will also make the vaccines more accessible to vaccination sites in more rural or hard-to-reach areas that lack the dedicated freezers needed to store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at ultra-cold temperatures. The CDC said on Sunday that 556,208 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered in the first week.

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

That means if most of the people in the priority groups get the vaccine, it could take until early January before enough is available for the entire top group – 24 million health workers and nursing home residents. Then it could take until sometime in February before sufficient doses are available for the second group of 49 million elderly and essential primary care workers. The third group numbers 129 million people, according to the CDC.

However, recent studies suggest that about 60% of people in the US plan to receive the vaccine.

Reaching one of these groups will be more challenging than finding health workers and nursing home residents who can be vaccinated at their facilities. Many people will have to look for clinics or pharmacies where they can get the injection. Companies can run vaccination clinics, but should schedule time for employees who need a day or two to get through the pain or fever that can develop as side effects.

Several ACIP members have called on the federal government to provide funding to public health departments to help them 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 the groups identified as being most at risk could be at risk,” said Robert Atmar, a professor of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Write to Betsy McKay at [email protected]