ACIP: HCPs, nursing home residents may get COVID vaccine first

The rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine will likely target health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities during Phase 1a, essential workers during Phase 1b, and older adults as well as men and women with comorbidities during Phase 1c. Members of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) reached a general consensus on vaccine prioritization at a meeting Monday, although a formal vote was not held. ACIP Chair José Romero, MD, noted that policymakers will have to sort out exactly which health care personnel receive the vaccine first, noting that high-risk workers may include individuals such as “the housekeeping staff that has to quickly turn around rooms in the emergency department.” While some concern was expressed about vaccinating long-term care facility residents early because of the strong chance that many will succumb to COVID regardless—which in turn could test public faith in the virus—members agreed that it still made sense given the high burden of disease in this demographic and the logistics of vaccinating them at the same time as staff. The committee was more cohesive on including essential workers in the next phase, with Lynn Bahta, RN, saying that “an intersection between essential workers and the community is where we’ve seen the greatest amount of disease.”