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A panel of independent experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at a public meeting on Tuesday voted that healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities would be the first to receive the vaccine as expected against the coronavirus.
The vote was 13-1.
The recommendations must now be approved by CDC director Dr Robert Redfield before the vaccine can be distributed to states and ultimately to groups that are part of the Phase 1A distribution plans.
The plan to distribute the vaccine to health workers and long-term care residents is also dependent on clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has yet to approve an emergency use request. from the pharmaceutical giant apply, and the biotech company Moderna. The two companies have developed coronavirus vaccine candidates that have been shown to be over 90% effective in advanced clinical trials.
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Following FDA approval, the first Americans could receive the blow as early as this month.
There are approximately 21 million healthcare workers and some 3 million residents of long-term care facilities in the United States, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the CDC’s independent advisory committee. on vaccines.
“To date, more than 240,000 healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19 and 858 have died. Long-term care facility deaths are estimated to account for 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths nationwide. These factors contributed to the committee’s recommendation to prevent the spread by protecting those on the front lines, healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients and protecting the most vulnerable, the elderly living in long-term care facilities. duration, ”the CDC told Fox News in an emailed statement after the vote.
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“The committee intends to meet again after [the FDA] authorization or approval of specific vaccine recommendations, ”the statement added.
States are not required to follow CDC recommendations; the recommendations simply provide a framework. However, most states should follow the recommendations, an expert said.
Moderna, the latest candidate to announce the filing of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for his coronavirus vaccine, said on Monday he expects 20 million doses of his vaccine to be available in the United States by the end of the year, adding that it “remains on track to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses worldwide by 2021.”
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Pfizer, meanwhile, has previously said it plans to produce up to 50 million doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
The news comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Monday said a decision on Moderna’s application for the EUA would likely be made days or up to a week after the review of Pfizer on December 10.
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Azar added that the vaccines “will be shipped 24 hours after authorization,” meaning the country is potentially on track to see a vaccine distributed before Christmas.
Alexandria Hein of Fox News contributed to this report.
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