Coronavirus emphasizes racism through US medical institutions as blacks and Latin Americans die at Covid-19 Extremely high rate Than white people. In an effort to combat these disparities, senior government officials are now working on whether to make race a clear feature of plans to distribute potential vaccines.
September 1, National Academy of Sciences (NASEM) Panel Published the plan Who should get the vaccine first in the US Some potential guidelines Under development. The initial plan incorporates some measures that help achieve that result indirectly, rather than explicitly prioritizing people based on race.
“The virus doesn’t understand skin color, but it does understand vulnerabilities,” said Bill Foege, co-chair of the NASEM panel and former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I will. The committee said it prioritized several risk factors that often had a major impact on the color community.
Overall, the Commission considered risk of infection, risk of death, potential social consequences, and risk of transmitting the infection to others in establishing its guidelines. In this draft plan, as expected, vaccines will be the first to get high-risk health care workers, followed by workers with severe comorbidities and older people living in a crowded environment.
The second phase will focus on high-risk essential workers such as delivery and transportation personnel, teachers, homeless shelter and prison personnel, and seniors who have not yet been vaccinated. Third, it will distribute the vaccine to young people, children, and workers in other essential industries. And finally, Phase 4 will provide vaccines to people who have not yet had one.
At a hearing held on Tuesday (September 2nd), Foege stressed that the draft was subject to revision and suggested modifying priorities to more clearly explain the racial disparities in risk. Highlighted by multiple speakers. Race itself should be a factor in vaccine distribution, as they claim that racism contributes to Covid-19’s death.
Elizabeth Ofili, president of the Black Heart Association (ABC), said the organization will help prioritize the most affected minorities at Covid-19. “ABC and others record that African-Americans have poor care outcomes, regardless of socioeconomic status, so the vulnerability index may not capture this type of inequality.” She said.
Alaska Natives, who are experiencing high rates of poverty and comorbidities, High risk of death as well From Covid-19. And Ellen Provost, director of the Alaska Indigenous Epidemiology Center of the Alaska Indigenous Health Consortium, created points relevant to these indigenous communities. “To avoid worsening inequalities and widening disparities, the Commission admitted that Alaska’s indigenous people were at significant risk of hospitalization and death from SARS-CoV-2, making this population the best candidate for the Covid-19 vaccine. Explicitly place them in priority groups. Risk allocation and allocation,” said Provost.
Other speakers at the public meeting emphasized that prioritizing distributions is not enough. Once the vaccine is available, the distribution system should work with a small group of medical leaders to ensure proper access.
There is Considerable suspicion of a vaccine Too few Black participants in the Black community are participating in the coronavirus vaccine trial, and Randall Morgan, director of the Cobb/NMA Health Institute, working to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Says. Healthcare professionals can distribute vaccines fairly only if they are trying to address these fears.
The only problem facing the distribution of vaccines is not systemic racism. NASEM’s draft distribution system needs to understand how to prioritize other vulnerable groups, such as homeless people and prisoners. The Commission will receive written comment this week and will issue a final report in late September.
The Commission was tasked with their duties by the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Francisco Linds, and the Director of CDC, Robert Redfield, so any recommendation would receive considerable support from the US government. However, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is also working on its own guidelines to determine exactly how a particular vaccine should be distributed until it is approved for public use. Is difficult to do. “The uncertainty we have is overwhelming,” Foege said.
