By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) – US public health officials on Friday accused a group of independent scientists and ethicists of developing guidelines for determining who should receive the first few doses of a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available.
The guidelines aim to develop a fair framework that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can use to develop a plan to distribute the first doses of the vaccine, which US officials hope will be ready by the end. of year.
The directors of the CDC and the National Institutes of Health accused the panel of designing the plan. The work will be carried out by a special committee of experts from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the National Academy of Medicine, an independent advisory body.
At the launch meeting, the NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins, instructed the committee to consider the needs of people who are at the highest risk of complications from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus that has caused a global pandemic. That has killed more than 600,000 people so far.
Collins said the list should consider allocation based on the health consequences of the disease, the needs of health workers, the military, people working in essential industries, and places in the country where the virus is most active. . He also said the group should consider prioritizing people who volunteered to try a vaccine and received a placebo, or a dummy vaccine, and are not yet protected.
“This will be controversial. Not everyone will like the answer. There will be many people who feel that they should have been at the top of the list, and not everyone can be,” said Collins.
Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, told the panel that they should “do everything possible to ensure not only that any vaccine is allocated fairly, but also that the public really sees that it is fair, fair and transparent.” . he said.
The initial draft of the guidelines will be completed in late August. That will be open for public comment. A final document will be issued in late September or early October.
(Report by Julie Steenhuysen; Edition by David Gregorio)
