New information released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that future prioritization of a possible coronavirus vaccine could be fraught with dangers. .
As the discussion of priority groups stood out on Thursday, the coronavirus continues to present a challenge, as studies show that pregnant women infected with the virus may have a higher risk of hospitalization than women who are not pregnant. The study also cited racial disparities among COVID-positive pregnant women, and Hispanic women exhibited the highest infection rate at 46 percent.
PREGNANT WOMEN WITH CORONAVIRUSES MOST LIKELY TO BE HOSPITALIZED, CDC WARNS
While pregnant women are often the last to receive a new vaccine due to an abundance of caution, reports suggest they should be close to the front of the proverbial line.
But, the question remains: who would be dragged across the board?
While the journal Science reported on Friday that the disproportionate number of coronaviruses in the elderly could put them near the top, they also often have the weakest response to vaccines. Health workers and essential employees are also likely to be at the forefront of the discussion. But, there are other factors to consider, and it would take around four billion doses to vaccinate the world’s priority populations.
In late June, WHO presented its “Global Allocation Framework” to member countries. They wrote that three groups, about two billion people, should receive priority vaccines: health workers, adults over 65, and adults with comorbidities.
This occurs when a subgroup of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) developed its own five-tier plan for the United States.
The first tier in the scheme includes 12 million “critical” and “other” health workers, with initial doses administered to “higher-risk medical, national security, and other essential workers.”
The second and third tier would be distributed to 110 million other essential or American workers over the age of 65, who live in long-term care facilities, or who have medical conditions that could become life-threatening if combined with a COVID-19 infection.
The rest of the “general population” would receive a vaccine at the final levels.
These plans raise even more questions for many who note the vague categorizations of people, as well as the disproportionate impact the virus has had on communities of color.
ACIP is scheduled to meet again to discuss the issue in August, and WHO plans to finalize the “allocation” plans by the end of the summer.
Pharmacist Michael Witte wears thick gloves when opening a frozen package of the potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, on the first day of a first-stage safety study clinical trial, Monday, March 16, 2020. at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. (AP Photo / Ted S. Warren)
According to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, there are now more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States and just 130,000 deaths.
Furthermore, assuming that the ambitious deadline for the deployment of the vaccine is maintained until the end of the year, the inaccessible would be a shortage and a high demand.
On Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the Journal of the American Medical Association that after months of experimental trials, vaccine candidates will enter studies late-stage clinicians in late July.
“We may at least know if we are dealing with a safe and effective vaccine in early winter, late winter, [or] early 2021, “he said.
According to the Milken Institute, there are more than one hundred vaccines in development.
However, just two days earlier, Fauci had a dire warning to the American public.
At a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing Tuesday, Fauci told members of Congress that new daily cases in the US could top 100,000 new infections if the outbreak breaks out smoothly amid the reopening of deployments.
“I am very concerned and I am not satisfied with what is happening because we are going in the wrong direction if we look at the curves of the new cases, so we really have to do something about it and we have to do it quickly,” he told the senators. .
As states in the south and west see troubling waves in cases and hospitalization rates, which are now gripping the country’s youth as well, many state and local leaders have been forced to close businesses once again o reduce reopening plans.
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With the coronavirus, many scientific options, such as prioritization, have become debates about ethics.
While challenge trials have been used to test vaccines for other diseases, there is no cure for COVID-19. That said, NIAID is reportedly developing strains of the virus that could be used to infect participants.
Louis Casiano of Fox News contributed to this report.
