CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky explains decision to recommend recalls for frontline workers

Washington – Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), explained on Sunday her decision to reverse the recommendation of the agency’s external advisory board and approve COVID-19 booster injections for frontline workers at high risk of occupational exposure to the virus.

In an interview with “Face the Nation,” Walensky said there was a “close scientific call” on whether those at high risk of contracting COVID-19 at work should be eligible for a third dose of the vaccine. Pfizer and BioNTech.

“Because of that close appeal and all of the evidence we looked at from both the FDA and the CDC, I thought it was appropriate that these people were also eligible for recalls,” Walensky said. “So who are these people? These are people who live and work in high risk environments, which includes people living in homeless shelters, people living in group homes, people in prison, but also, importantly, people who work with vulnerable communities. So our health care workers, our teachers, our grocers, our transit workers. “

Walensky said the recommendations for recalls apply to people who spend much of their day alongside segments of the population that might not be vaccinated, such as classroom teachers with children under the age of 12. , which are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

“Our recommendation is addressed to those limited people in the population, over 65, high-risk workers, high-risk community occupations, as well as high-risk co-morbidities,” she said.

Two federal health agencies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC, weighed in this month on whether to allow boosters for the general population as the country continues to fight the variant. Delta.

FDA Wednesday approved boosters Pfizer’s vaccine for three segments of the population: people over 65, people at high risk of developing severe COVID-19 and people at high risk of occupational exposure.

But an advisory committee of the CDC recommended the extra shots only for older Americans and adults at high risk of critical illness, excluding workers at risk. Walensky then decided to include people in high-risk professional and institutional settings in the recommendation for booster injections, aligning the FDA and CDC guidelines for additional doses.

“We have allowed people to be eligible, but they really have to identify their own individual risk and they have their own individual advantage,” Walensky said Sunday.

The country’s top health officials, including Walensky, last month recommended booster shots to all Americans eight months after receiving a second dose of their vaccines, and the Biden administration was ready to start rolling out the vaccines. injections last week.

As public health agencies have restricted the number of people who should receive a booster, Walensky said the United States could reach a point in the pandemic where all vaccinated Americans would need another dose of their COVID vaccine. -19.

“Science could very well show that the rest of the population needs to be strengthened and we will provide that guidance as soon as we have the science to inform them,” she said.

Walensky said the goal of the Biden administration is to “stay ahead of the virus,” including providing boosters now “so we don’t end up in a vulnerable place.”

“We will see if we can reduce the rate of transmission in this country and really in the world, which we are also working to do than what we foresee and hope that we do not have more mutations that will require more strengthening to l ‘future, “she said.