Health workers treating patients with coronavirus can be at the top of the line to get vaccinated once they are approved. But that is not a clear step.
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee met on Wednesday for a two-day public meeting on the Covid-19 epidemic, vaccine development and distribution plan whenever ready.
“The question is, how dangerous are healthcare workers in the United States, especially in the age of adequate PPE,” said Dr. John Smith, president of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Said Ezekiel Emanuel. Seat. “Because at least in our hospital, there is a transmission from patient to doctor with PPE [is] Zero. “
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine announced earlier this month that U.S. For a draft proposal that prioritizes health care workers and vulnerable Americans, such as the elderly and people with underlying health conditions. The group drafted a proposal at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates that U.S. There are 17 million to 20 million health care workers.
“Front-line health care workers are especially important in controlling the epidemic and preventing death and serious illness,” the group wrote in a section of the report, “Rational.”
“Since the onset of the epidemic, many frontline workers have worked in environments where they have been exposed to the virus, often without adequate PPE.” PPE refers to personal protective devices, such as masks, gloves and gowns that are used to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Critical P.P.E. There are reports in the country of health-care workers suffering from a shortage of, who have responded to the U.S. about the epidemic from the beginning. PPE refers to personal protective devices, such as masks, gloves and gowns that are used to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
Emanuel added that the priority of potential life-saving vaccines is “very complex” and noted that the placement of all health care workers in the first group for primary health care was “not reasonable at this stage at the time of the epidemic.”
The panel representing the NVAC determines the potential framework for thinking through difficult ethical issues on how the vaccine should be delivered. Vaccines will not be available to the entire population at once, so certain populations will need to be given more priority than others.
So should health workers in the United States be vaccinated before doing essential work in meat packing plants, schools, or grocery stores? The elderly in nursing homes are another group that will give preference to bio-atheists, given the low mortality rate for those who are infected with the virus.
Emanuel notes that at this stage of the epidemic, many of his hospital’s medical staff – and other health systems – now have adequate access to PPE, which reduces the risk of contracting the virus. More consideration is needed to determine exactly which employees at the hospital are most at risk of infection, he said.
“Which high-risk job should be the first priority,” he asked. “How many of you think firefighters are really at high risk, or are we just knocking them down? So I think we need serious determination of the risk here if that’s our tific deed.”
Dr. Emanuel pointed out the importance of modeling potential risks before jumping to conclusions.
Others on the panel noted that health workers may be at even greater risk as everyone is exposed to PPE. This may include in-house health workers, nursing assistants, hospital security or staff delivering food to sick patients.
Epidemic Intelligence Officer Dr. Sara with the CDC’s Department of Viral Diseases. Sara Oliver admitted that the right PPE. The spread of coronavirus in health-care settings has been reduced due to being. However, he noted that front-line medical workers who are most at risk of infection are often not doctors and nurses, but instead deliver to security personnel, nursing aids, workers and others who may have PPE. .
“While we will do everything we can to ensure that those in need of PPE get it, I don’t know if it completely removes the importance for early protection of health care workers,” he said at the meeting on Wednesday.
The panel also discussed how many front-line medical personnel may experience “PPE fatigue,” which could put workers at greater risk in health care settings.
Emanuel notes that if some health workers are at greater risk than others, the distribution plan should specifically prioritize risk groups. But he added that putting all of this together “I don’t think it’s a fair approach.”
“The goal is to minimize the damage and maximize the benefits. You have to see how well the vaccine works in a group,” Emanuel said.
He added that the question of which one to prefer depends very well on which vaccine is authorized and what the trial data says about immunization. He said that if a vaccine reduces the transmission of the virus but does not reduce the severity of the disease, or vice versa, there could be effects of its distribution.
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