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CDC's Coronavirus Vaccine Advisory Committee To Discuss Next Priority Group

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- As the first doses of coronavirus vaccines go into the arms of health care workers and nursing home residents, the CDC's vaccine advisory committee will be discussing who is next.

"There's going to be more disagreement to the 1B category," says Dr. Marc Itskowitz, a primary care internist at the Allegheny Health Network.

This group includes adults 65 and older and people with high-risk medical conditions.

"There is also a push from a number of groups who are considered essential workers. And they want to be included in this 1B group as well," Dr. Itskowitz says.

Teachers, firefighters, prison workers, camp counselors, food workers and others want to be deemed essential for the purposes of priority.

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"They will listen very carefully to these groups," he says. "And I anticipate the lobbying will have an impact, but it'll have a limited impact. In other words, at the end of the day, you have to look at the data."

Dr. Itskowitz says infection rates locally are higher among the young but deaths and hospitalizations are higher among the elderly.

"I would prioritize people who are vulnerable to severe disease," Dr. Itskowitz said. "Our first priority is not necessarily to stop transmission of all cases, but really to take the pressure off the hospitals. And the best way to do that is to vaccinate patients who are most likely to be hospitalized, which are older patients and patients with chronic medical conditions."

Even with the next group stratified, it will be a while before it sees any vaccine. The first group will take until the end of January.

Once the committee makes a decision, the CDC's director will have to sign off on it for it to become an official recommendation. The states can then follow the guidance or make their own priorities based on their vaccine supply.

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