Who has the priority of the COVID-19 vaccine?

U.S. Advisory Board on Friday Who should be in line first to get the COVID-19 vaccineIncludes a petition for special efforts by states and cities to give shots to low-income minority groups.

As expected, the Commission recommended that healthcare professionals and first responders be prioritized when vaccine supplies are limited. According to the panel, shots should be provided free of charge to everyone. The National Academy of Science and Technology Medicine reports that throughout the vaccine campaign, we also need to focus on the disadvantages of reducing racial health inequalities.

“Everyone knows from the news how deadly this was for minorities,” he said. Dr. William Forge Co-chair of the panel at Emory Rollins School of Public Health. “I said that the root cause of this problem was racism.

“The virus doesn’t have the concept of color, but the concept of vulnerability is very good,” he added.

The outbreak of the coronavirus caused an imbalanced number of hospitalizations and deaths among black, Latin American, and Native American residents. The reasons are complex, but the disparity is believed to be partly due to the fact that they are more likely to work in front-line jobs that are at high risk of being exposed to the coronavirus. They also have high poverty rates, poor access to health care, and are more likely to have chronic medical conditions associated with severe illness.

The authors of the report write that they see their work as “one way to deal with these mistakes.”

Federal health authorities will have final say on the distribution of 300 million doses of vaccine purchased by the government under the Trump administration. Operation warp speed.. In reality, state and local health departments will ultimately control where vaccination clinics are located.

National Academies documents show a continuous wave of vaccine distribution as production increases.

• In the event of a shortage of supplies, the first dose should be given to high-risk health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes, and those who provide home care. First responders are also included in this group.

• Second, elderly people in nursing homes and other crowded facilities, and people of all ages whose health is at serious risk. The report said it was still unclear which health conditions should be included. It may be cancer, chronic kidney disease, or obesity.

• In the next wave, teachers, childcare workers, workers in critical industries (specific occupations may vary from state to state), and people living in homeless shelters, group homes, prisons and other facilities.

• With increased supply, healthy children, young adults and everyone else.

Some vaccine candidates Is in The final stage of human testingHowever, nothing has been approved yet. Initial supply is expected to be limited. Many health professionals predict that the vaccine will not be widely available to all Americans from mid to late next year.

The report suggests that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can reduce 10% of vaccine supply to identified “hotspots” through a tool called. Social vulnerability index, It is based on census data that incorporates race, poverty, crowded housing and other factors.

State and local health authorities can use the same tools. This index was developed by the CDC to identify communities that may need assistance in an emergency such as a hurricane.

But using race, even as part of a data-driven approach, poses a challenge and controversy in court, some experts warned.

“The country is already divided,” he said. Gary Packline He is a member of the National Minority Quality Forum, a non-profit advocacy organization. “Because of the high risk, are you going to give priority to African Americans and Hispanics over whites?”

That might be appropriate, Puckline said, “But it will require a lot of advocacy and a lot of explanation. It won’t happen out of the paper.”

The use of race to prioritize vaccines “may lead to the Supreme Court,” he said. Larry GostinA professor at Georgetown University, he has advised Republican and Democratic governments on public health issues.

“Because of the strong conservative majority, courts can defeat racial preferences,” Gostin said. “Structural racism in the United States has resulted in a much higher rate of illness and death among people of color. We must find a legitimate way to protect the underprivileged from COVID-19. I can’t. “

The local health department said it may not really need tools like indexes Dr. Jeff Duchin, Seattle and King County Public Health Officers.

“Most local and state health departments know where vulnerable communities live and where blacks, Hispanics, and indigenous peoples live,” Duchin said. “It’s not surprising to anyone who wants to target and make vaccines available.”

In Chicago, black residents make up about 29% of the city’s population, but 43% of the approximately 3,000 COVID-19 deaths. The city used its own data to conduct mobile tests in the communities most affected by COVID-19.

Those who worked for the test could work for the vaccine. Dr. Candice Robinson, Chicago’s medical director, is investigating whether nearby parks, food pantry, and community colleges will be vaccination sites, but at the ultra-low temperatures required by some of the vaccine candidates. Storage may require more centralized distribution. Public Health Service.

National Academy priorities will be considered by the CDC Immunization Implementation Advisory Committee Make your own recommendations. At the panel’s September 22 meeting, CDC staff presented side-by-side maps showing how closely the Social Vulnerability Index reflects COVID-19 cases and mortality.

The state and local public health departments have flexibility in how to implement the recommendations, the chairman said. Dr. Jose Romero, Minister of Health, Arkansas. Minorities are overvalued in healthcare and other important industries, so in theory, prioritizing these groups can increase access for blacks and Hispanics.

The most pressing thing right now is that we need to start explaining the independent checks that are being carried out to ensure that the vaccine is safe. Sharing vaccine safety data when it becomes available will increase confidence among groups who hesitate to inject, he said.

“I hear words like” experiment “among the Latins of my state. People say, “I don’t want to receive this until it’s shown to be safe in other groups,” Romero said. “You can get the best vaccine in the world, but if people aren’t confident in that vaccine, it won’t help. It’s put on the shelf.”