PHILADELPHIA — When there finally is an approved vaccine for COVID-19, the first doses should go to front-line health workers in hospitals, nursing homes or home care, as well as first responders like police officers and firefighters, according to new recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
That first-in-line group, which represents 5% of the U.S. population, is critically important for keeping the health system running, but also faces high risk of getting and transmitting the new virus.
Once more doses are available, people with underlying health problems that put them at “significantly higher risk” for severe disease and death could line up for shots as part of Phase 1b.
That would likely include people with two or more major health problems, such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, heart disease or diabetes.
Phase 1b, which includes about 10% of Americans, would also include people 65 and older who live in congregate settings, such as nursing homes, homeless shelters and jails.
A panel assembled by the national academies took on the project at the request of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is difficult to know how influential its recommendations will be. Traditionally, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends who should get vaccines.
It has been discussing allocation for months, but has not yet made official recommendations.
First Published: October 3, 2020, 4:43 a.m.
