Covid-19 coronavirus: US panel to decide who should get the first shot

Pharmacist Michael Witte in Seattle holds a tray with a syringe containing a shot that will be used in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for Covid-19. Photo / AP file

An influential scientific panel today was set to tackle one of the most pressing questions in the United States coronavirus outbreak: Who should be at the front of the line when the first vaccine shots become available?

The US government's Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices scheduled an open-to-the-public, virtual meeting to vote on a proposal that would give priority to healthcare workers and nursing home patients.

The two groups together represent around 23 million Americans out of a US population of about 330 million.

Later this month, the Food and Drug Administration will consider approval of two vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. Current estimates project that no more than 20 million doses of each vaccine will be available by the end of 2020. And each product requires two doses.

Coronavirus may have been present in the U.S. weeks earlier than scientists realized, according to new government research. https://t.co/jXBfUMJsae

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As a result, the shots will be rationed in the early stages.

The panel will meet again at some point to decide who should be next in line. Among the possibilities: teachers, police, firefighters and workers in other essential fields such as food production and transportation; the elderly; and people with underlying medical conditions.

Experts say the vaccine will probably not become widely available in the US until March.

The 15-member panel of outside experts, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, who almost always approves them.

The recommendations are not binding, but for decades they have been widely heeded by doctors, and they have determined the scope and funding of US vaccination programmes.

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It will be up to state authorities whether to follow the guidance. It will also be left to them to make further, more detailed decisions if necessary — for example, whether to put emergency room doctors and nurses ahead of other healthcare workers if vaccine supplies are low.

The outbreak in the US has killed nearly 270,000 people and caused more than 13.5 million confirmed infections, with deaths, hospitalisations and cases rocketing in recent weeks.

About two million people are living in nursing homes and other US long-term care facilities. Those patients and the staff members who care for them have accounted for 6 per cent of the nation's coronavirus cases and a staggering 39 per cent of the deaths, CDC officials say.

The number of healthcare workers covered by the panel's recommendation would be about 21 million.

“In some ways, the whole country is essentially living with the strategy of the least effective states because states interconnect and one state not doing a good job will continue to spread the virus to other states,” @ashishkjha told ProPublica. https://t.co/36PUQGuPT4

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That's a broad category that includes medical staff who care for — or come in contact with — patients in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and doctor's offices. It also includes home healthcare workers and paramedics.

Depending on how state officials apply the panel's recommendations, it could also encompass cleaning staff, food service employees and medical records clerks.

The government estimates people working in healthcare account for 12 per cent of US Covid-19 cases but only about 0.5% of deaths. Experts say it's imperative to keep healthcare workers on their feet so that they can administer the shots and tend to the booming number of infected Americans.

- AP