Last night, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted for vaccination in the “1A” phase of the COVID-19 vaccine program to be offered to both health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. In light of the influential panel’s decision, Surgo Foundation urged governors to utilize available data to ensure that their states’ limited vaccine supplies will go as far as they can toward protecting critical healthcare workers.
“We’re concerned by Operation Warp Speed’s recommendation to deliver the first 6.4 million vaccine doses to states not based on prioritized risk groups, but on a state’s adult population,” said Dr. Sema Sgaier, co-founder and executive director of Surgo Foundation. “lgnoring the data on where priority groups live and work is neither fair nor strategic. As a nurse working on the COVID-19 frontlines, why should your chances of getting vaccinated depend on whether you happen to live in West Virginia or Wyoming?”