CDC recommend to first vaccinate health workers -

NURSING HOMES’ ELDERLY ARE ALSO A PRIORITY

Newsroom El Comercio de Colorado

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A panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States advised to allocate the first available vaccines to health workers and the elderly who live in residences. The committee approved this resolution although it is only a recommendation and the final decision on how to distribute the vaccines will be made by the states.

The United States hopes to have enough doses to vaccinate about 20 million Americans before the end of the year. Both Pfizer and Moderna have already asked the federal government to authorize their vaccines on an emergency basis. The CDC panel has concluded that priority should be given to 21 million healthcare workers for hospitals and clinics to continue operating.

Nursing home’s elderly

The vaccination of 3 million elderly and nursing home employees is also a priority. The only vote against the general recommendation has been that of the Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) Helen Keipp Talbot, who has pointed out that there is not enough data to conclude that vaccines are safe for the elderly in nursing homes.

About 40 per cent of deaths caused by covid-19 in the United States are associated with this type of residence. According to The Washington Post, the recommendation of the CDC experts may clash with that agency’s own director, Robert Redfield, or with Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinates the White House task force against the coronavirus.

Vaccination by june 2021

They have both advocated prioritizing older people in general. The CDC’s recommendation comes when the United States has registered more than 270,000 deaths and about 13.7 million cases of coronavirus, more than in any other country in the world. After this first shipment of 40 million doses this December, with which 20 million people will be vaccinated with two doses.

The director of Supply, Production and Distribution of the government operation “Warp Speed”, General Paul Ostrowski, said that “100 per cent of Americans who want the vaccine will have it at that point in time”, referring to June 2021. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet on December 10 to evaluate Pfizer’s request and the 17th for Moderna.