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January 5, 2021
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that dentists, dental hygienists and assistants are included in its initial recommendation that healthcare workers be among those receiving the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The CDC highlighted the recommendation on its website on Dec. 28 following a report by the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent group of medical and public health experts. The committee said federal, state and local jurisdictions should use these guidelines for planning and implementing the COVID-19 vaccination program.
“Early access to vaccines is essential to ensure the health and safety of this vital workforce of approximately 21 million people, protecting not only them but also their patients, families, communities and health. in general from our country, ”wrote the CDC.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended on December 1 that COVID-19 vaccines be offered first to healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities. In a letter dated December 16, 2020, the ADA and 27 other healthcare organizations expressed concern that the Expert Panel’s definition of healthcare workforce could lead states and localities to inadvertently overlook employees of dental offices.
“ACIP’s definition of ‘healthcare workers’ appears to be based, in part, on the term ‘healthcare workers’ in the CDC’s 2019 guideline for infection control among healthcare workers,” the groups wrote. . The coalition noted that the 2019 document did not specifically apply to dentistry because the CDC had developed separate and distinct infection control guidelines for dental facilities.
“We are convinced that ACIP did not intend to exclude health workers from its recommendation,” the groups wrote. “However, we would hate for jurisdictions to neglect dental, autopsy and laboratory staff because of a minor footnote in guidelines that were developed for an entirely different purpose (i.e., infection control ). “
The groups had urged the CDC to release the clarification.
In a November 20, 2020 letter to the Advisory Board, ADA President Daniel J. Klemmedson, DDS, MD, and Executive Director Kathleen T. O’Loughlin, DMD, noted that the National Academies of Sciences, engineering and medicine recommended dentists and their teams be given priority access to a COVID-19 vaccine.
“There is nothing routine about dental care,” wrote Drs. Klemmedson and O’Loughlin. “Delaying treatment for months, weeks, or even days can make the difference between dying prematurely, having a life-changing abnormality, and leading a normal, healthy life.”
For more information on ADA’s advocacy efforts during COVID-19, visit ADA.org/COVID19Advocacy.
The ADA created an information sheet for dentists on COVID-19 vaccines and also released a map with hyperlinks to state and local jurisdictions containing the details of the population’s vaccination priority, as well as information the most recent on where dentists are allowed to administer the vaccine. vaccine.
The ADA will continue to monitor developments related to the approval and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine on behalf of the profession and the public. Visit ADA.org/virus for the latest information.
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