Debate over who should be next in line to get the coronavirus vaccine has intensified, with some experts saying that workers should be given priority over older ones.
The U.S. began inoculating Americans with the Pfizer vaccine this week, and the Food and Drug Administration is working to authorize the modern coronavirus vaccine. But with limited supply, no vaccine is expected to be widely available, at least until spring 2021.
Health care workers and long-term residents of nursing homes are in the first line to get Jab, but experts have not yet decided who should be. The Centers for Disease Control will issue a recommendation shortly after an independent panel of medical experts advises the CDC to vote, “Phase 1B.”
At a committee meeting last month, all voting members voted to place required workers aged 65 and over and those with medical conditions in the high-risk category.
The committee usually relies on science for information on decisions, but this time there is also the concern of social justice.
Harold Schmidt, an expert in ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times that primary workers should be preferred over older people because “the older population is white.”
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“Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer. Instead of giving those who already have extra health benefits, we can start the playing field a little bit.”
The statement was followed by a pushback on social media.
“This is horrible,” Noah Rothman, editor of The Mentry, wrote on Twitter. “It’s the kind of ascetic feeling we’ve come to expect. Trust the science trust.”
He added, “I warned you people about social justice.”
“That’s wrong – Asians and Hispanics have the longest lifespans in the U.S.,” wrote Christina Hoff Somers. According to data compiled by CDC and NIH from WorldLifeExpectancy.com, the age of Asian Americans is 86 86.67 and Hispanic Americans are 826.89. The life expectancy of white Americans is 79.12.
“This is sick,” radio host Jason Rentz said Schmidt wrote quotes.
Schmidt refused to create a “race-only approach” and called on the CDC committee to unify its own social vulnerability index. The index has 15 factors such as poverty, lack of vehicle access and overcrowding.
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“The bottom line is: in a population of 65 and over, many people can live safely and have relatively little discomfort until they get vaccinated,” Schmidt told Fox News. “But there is still no choice among the required workers, especially frontline workers. Getting the vaccine as early as possible can be of literal significance to them.”
The members of the committee are considering the ethical matters of the heart, although they may interpret it.
“The issue of morality is very important and very important to this country for me,” said Dr. Peter Szaliagi, a member of the University of California, Los Angeles committee and professor of pediatrics. “And [ethics] Minority, low-income, and low-educated workers in the required workforce clearly favor the essential worker group. “
But such claims run counter to the highest authorities in medicine.
The director of the CDC and the country’s top public health official, Dr. Robert Redfield reminded the committee in a statement earlier this month that “future recommendations based on vaccine availability show that we as a nation also prioritize the elderly.”
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Following the committee’s vote, Redfield will decide whether to accept its recommendation as the CDC’s official guide. Ultimately, state and local health officials will have to follow the CDC’s guidelines.
“If your goal is to maximize the survival of human life, then you will be biased by vaccinating older Americans,” said former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said recently. “If your goal is to reduce the infection rate, then you will give preference to the necessary workers. So, it depends on the effect you are trying to achieve.”
But the essential work class makes up 70 percent of the U.S. population, and has a less clear line from which “essential” workers can be considered “frontline” employees.
Another infectious disease epidemic told the New York Times that teachers should not be included in the next essential classes for vaccinations because they have “middle-class salaries, are often white, and have a college degree.”
Harvard’s T.H. “Of course they should be treated better, but they are not the most abused workers,” said Mark Lipsich of Chan School Public Health.
But a senior economist at the Institute for Economic Policy said essential workers, disproportionate minorities, teachers need to be vaccinated to send their children back to school.
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“When you talk about disproportionate impact and you people worry about getting back into the labor force, there are a lot of mothers, and they will have a more difficult time if their children don’t have a reliable place.” “And if you think about people who usually have jobs where they can’t do telework, they’re disproportionately black and brown. They’ll have more of a challenge when it comes to childcare.”
