In this March 16, 2020, file photo, a subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
Ted S. Warren | AP
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Tuesday released a draft proposal for distributing a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. if and when one is approved for public use.
The vaccine would be distributed in four phases, with health-care workers and vulnerable Americans, like the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, getting it first, according to the group. They devised the proposed guidelines at the request of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The first phase would cover about 15% of the population, the group said.
“Front line health care workers are particularly important in stemming the pandemic and preventing death and severe illness,” the group wrote in a section of the report titled “Rationale.” “From the beginning of the pandemic, many frontline workers have worked in environments where they have been exposed to the virus, often without adequate PPE.”
Phase two would include essential workers, teachers, homeless shelters as well as people in prisons, jails and detention centers. All older adults not included in phase one would be vaccinated in phase two.
Phase three would include young adults, children and workers in industries “essential to the functioning of society” and who are at risk of exposure to the virus. Phase four would include everyone not vaccinated yet.
As drugmakers race to find a safe and effective vaccine by the end of the year, scientists and infectious disease experts worry about who will get the vaccine first and how. The U.S. will initially have a limited supply of vaccine doses that won’t be widely available until “several months” into 2021, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert.
The public can provide feedback on the framework during a four-day public comment period that begins at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 1, and concludes at 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 4.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
