CDC Advisers Prioritize Health Care Workers, Nursing Home Residents for Vaccine

Healthcare workers and nursing home residents should be among the first Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, members of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee determined Tuesday. The panel voted 13-1 to give a vaccine, as soon as it’s approved, to the some 24 million Americans who are healthcare workers or nursing home residents, while supplies are still limited as production ramps up. The decision from the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices comes as the U.S. records record numbers of coronavirus cases across the country. The U.S. recorded 4.36 million cases of COVID-19 in November — roughly double the number from a month earlier. The only dissenting vote was cast by Dr. Helen Talbot, an infectious-disease expert at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Talbot said she objected including nursing home residents in the first group because the vaccine’s safety and efficacy had not been tested in that particular group. The CDC is also set to revise the current recommended 14-day quarantine period for someone who has been exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19. Under the proposed new guidelines, the self-isolation period will be shortened to 10 days, or 7 days if they receive a negative test result…. Read full this story

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