Panel picks next in line for vaccine
People 75 and up, key workers added; 2nd shot is shipped
NEWYORK— An expert committee put people 75 and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers next in line for COVID-19 shots as a second vaccine began rolling out Sunday to hospitals, a desperately needed boost as the nation works to bring the corona virus pandemic under control.
The developments occurredas the nation seeks to ramp up a vaccination program that only began in the last week and so far has given initial shots to about 556,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech, aswell as theonefrom Moderna Inc., which was approved by regulators last week go first to health care workers and residents of long-termcarehomes, based onthe advice of theAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The committee voted 13-1 on Sunday to put people 75 and older as well as certain front-line workers next in line for the vaccines.
Those essential workers include firefighters and police officers; teachers and school staff; food and agriculture workers; manufacturing workers; corrections workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; public transit and grocery storeworkers.
The committee also voted that behind those groups
should be other essential workers; people ages 65 to 74; and those ages 16 to 64 who have certain medical conditions — like obesity and cancer— that put them at higher risk for severe disease if they get infected withCOVID-19.
Theexpert panel’s recommendation next goes to the CDC director and to states as guidance to put together vaccination programs. CDC directors have almost always signed off on committee recommendations. No matter what the CDC says, there will be differences from state to state, because various health departments have different ideas about who should be closer to the front of the line.
Pfizer’s shots were first shipped out aweek ago and started being used the next
day, kicking off the nation’s biggest vaccination drive.
EarlierSunday, trucks left the Olive Branch, Mississippi, factory, nearMemphis, Tennessee, with the vaccine developed byModerna and the National Institutes of Health. The much-needed shots are expected to be given startingMonday, just threedays after theFoodand Drug Administration authorized their emergency rollout.
In Louisville, Kentucky, UPS driver Todd Elble said his vaccine shipment was the “most important load that I’ve hauled” in a 37-year career. His parents contracted COVID-19 in November, and his 78-yearold father died. He said the family speculates that his father got infected while traveling on a hunting trip
with four other relatives to Wyoming, andsomeare still sick.
“I’m going to take the vaccinemyself. I’m going to be first in line formy father — I’ll tell you that much — and any others that should follow,” he said. “I feel inmy heart that everybody should, to help get this stopped.”
He added: “To bring this back, I feel Dad was in the truck withmetoday.”
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser to the federal government’s vaccine distribution effort, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that nearly 8 million doses will be distributed Monday, about 5.9 million of theModerna vaccine and 2millionof thevaccine from Pfizer Inc. He said the first Moderna shots should be givenMonday morning.
Public health experts say the shots — and others in the pipeline — are the only way to stop a virus that has been spreading wildly. Nationwide, more than 215,000 people per day on average test positive for the virus, which has killed over 317,000in theU.S. andnearly 1.7 millionworldwide.
Slaoui also predicted the U.S. will experience “a continuing surge,” with larger numbers of coronavirus cases possible fromgatherings for Christmas.
“I think, unfortunately, it will getworse,” he said.
There won’t be enough shots for the general population until spring, so doses will be rationed at least for the next several months. President-elect Joe Biden pledged earlier this month to have 100 million doses distributed in his first 100 days in office, and his surgeon general nominee said Sunday that it’s still a realistic goal.
But VivekMurthy, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said it’s more realistic to think it may be midsummer or early fall before coronavirus vaccines are available to the general population, rather than late spring. Murthy said Biden’s team is working toward having the shots available to lower-risk individuals by late spring but doing so requires “everything to go exactly on schedule.”
“I think it’s more realistic to assume that it may be closer to midsummer or early fall when this vaccine makes itsway to the general population,” Murthy said. “So, we want to be optimistic, but we want to be cautious aswell.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s surgeon general, Jerome Adams, def ended the administration’ s handling of the Pfizer vaccine Sunday, a day after the Army general in charge of gettingCOVID19 vaccines across the U.S. apologized Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution. At least a dozen states reported theywould receive a smaller second shipment of the Pfizer vaccine than they had been told previously.
Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters in a telephone briefing Saturday that he made mistakes by citing numbers of doses that he believed would be ready. Slaoui said the mistake was assuming vaccines that had been produced were ready for shipment when there was a two-day delay.