Source: SOPA Images / Getty
It’s been a long nine months thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is finally some light at the end of this tunnel in the form of multiple vaccine candidates.
With both Moderna and Pfizer applying for emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccines that have both proven to be highly effective against the virus, the CDC is held a vote to determine who would be first in line to get the potential life-saving shot.
In a 13-1 vote held on Tuesday (Dec.1), a panel comprised of CDC experts agreed that first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine should go to healthcare workers on the frontline and nursing home residents as soon as the FDA gives the okay. The decision could be handed down sometime in December.
Per Buzzfeed News:
“The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) vote prioritizes both populations equally for the first vaccines, coming amid a surging nationwide pandemic. The meeting finalized months of vaccine distribution planning by the committee’s experts and federal officials, who had to balance medical ethics, what science has learned about people with the highest risk, and ease of mass vaccination for these populations.”
“The debate over who should get the first vaccines reached a fever pitch with recent reports of Trump administration officials pressing for seniors over age 65 to receive vaccines ahead of healthcare workers.”
Currently, in the US, there are 21 million healthcare workers and 3 million nursing home residents. Operation Warp Speed, the $10 billion private-public spearheaded by the Trump Administration to help fast track COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, hope to get the vaccine into the arms of 20 million Americans before the end of the year.
This news arrived ahead of the huge development across the pond. The UK has approved Pfizer/BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine and will begin administering as early as next week, putting pressure on the US issue approvals. The United States takes a bit longer becuase the FDA prefers to go through all of the raw data wanting to curb the hesitancy from American citizens, more specifically Black folks not wanting to take the vaccine.
Plus, the elephant in the room, the Trump administration, are trying their best to politicize the vaccine, but scientists and medical professionals have done their best to see that is not the case.
These are just recommendations and the states will have the final say in how the vaccine will be distributed to its residents.
Again this is great news, but that does not mean we should let our guards down and do things like throwing maskless birthday parties, looking at you, Reginae, and Lil Wayne. COVID-19 is still here and kicking our butts, and most experts believe we won’t be in the clear till Spring or Summer 2021.
For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, and we’re not talking about what you saw on Facebook, you can head here.
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Photo: SOPA Images / Getty
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