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CDC panel: COVID vaccines should go to health workers, long-term care residents first

01 December 2020
Dan Ackermann

Health-care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line to get coronavirus vaccines in the United States once they’re cleared and available for public use, an independent CDC panel recommended in a 13-1 emergency vote on Tuesday, per CNBC.

Why it matters:Recent developments in COVID-19 vaccines have accelerated the timeline for distribution as vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna undergo the federal approval process. States are preparing to begin distributing as soon as two weeks from now.

The big picture: The debate over who should get the vaccine first has roiled the U.S. since the pandemic began.

  • Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC last month that roughly 40 million doses will be available by year's end. That’s enough to immunize about 20 million people, since Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines must be taken in two doses about a month apart.
  • In the U.S., there are roughly 21 million health-care workers and 3 million long-term care residents, per a presentation given during the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices that CNBC cites.
  • Most states and local jurisdictions will likely need around three weeks to vaccinate all health-care workers, Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told CNBC.

What to watch: CDC director Robert Redfield is anticipated to decide by Wednesday whether to accept the recommendation as the agency’s formal guidance to states.

  • But, but, but: Though states aren't bound to the CDC's guidance, they can provide a framework for planning, which many states adopt. The final call will be made by governors.
  • UPS, FedEx, McKesson trucking and pharmacies are coordinating with Pfizer and Moderna to transport and deliver vaccines.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.