Health Care Workers To Be Vaccinated for COVID-19 First
An advisory committee for the CDC voted that health care workers and those who live and work in long-term hair facilities will be first in line to be vaccinated for the coronavirus.
- By Nikki Johnson-Bolden
- Dec 04, 2020
The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13-1 on December 1 on the stance that healthcare workers should be the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccination upon approval by the FDA, reports CNN.
Health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities will be included in “Phase 1A” of the CDC’s coronavirus vaccination plan.
“Anybody that works within a health care institution that could have contact with an individual who has Covid should receive vaccination,” said Dr. Jose Romero, chair of ACIP. “That includes individuals such as the persons delivering food, those persons in housekeeping who rapidly turn over rooms in the emergency room or who perform cleaning in the patient’s rooms.”
According to the CDC, over 240,000 health care workers have been infected by COVID-19, while 858 have died of the virus. Efforts to reduce the number of infections among health care workers have been made by states like California, who recently mandated weekly testing for those employees.
About the Author
Nikki Johnson-Bolden is an Associate Content Editor for Occupational Health & Safety.