Covid-19 Vaccines Should be Added to Regular Immunizations, CDC Advisers Say
If CDC follows recommendations as expected, shots will be added to lists along with measles, tetanus and other inoculations
October 20, 2022: Vaccine experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supported adding Covid-19 vaccines to the agency’s lists of recommended regular immunizations.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, voted unanimously on Thursday in support of including Covid-19 shots on the lists of measles, tetanus and other inoculations that adults and children 6 months and older should get in the US.
Now, it is up to the CDC to sign off.
Image above: Covid-19 vaccinations have slowed, according to CDC data—and the rollout of the latest booster shots to date has started more sluggishly compared to earlier efforts.
The agency usually follows the recommendations of its advisers. The CDC would publish the updated immunization lists in February 2023 if it endorses them.
The addition of the Covid-19 shots to the lists wouldn’t mean the CDC will require them. Rather, the CDC would be recommending people get the shots as a regular part of their vaccinations against long-running infectious diseases.
“We view this as routine, and we view this as Covid is here to stay,” said Matthew Daley, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente Colorado who serves on the panel.
The move for children in particular could bolster the efforts of states to require the shots for schoolchildren, though it could also face pushback from families who have refused to get their children vaccinated or boosted against the virus.
All states require schoolchildren to be vaccinated, with some specific exemptions, against communicable diseases such as polio, diphtheria and measles.
States like California and Louisiana have attempted to include Covid-19 to the lists of vaccinations required for children to attend school, but backtracked after facing legislative backlash and public anger.
Whether the Covid-19 vaccine’s addition to the adult schedule would persuade some adults who have held off to get vaccinated isn’t known.
Image above: A sign directs patients at a Covid-19 vaccination site in Livingston, N.J., last July.
Vaccinations have slowed, according to CDC data. Uptake of the latest booster shots to date has started more sluggishly compared to earlier rollouts, though Biden administration officials said they expect more Americans to get the shots next month.
The CDC’s immunization schedules—there is one for adults and one for children—recommend which vaccines people should get and when.
For children, the schedule recommends shots for diseases such as chickenpox, pertussis and polio. The list for adults encourages getting vaccines for meningitis, hepatitis and the flu, among other diseases.
The Food and Drug Administration cleared use of Covid-19 vaccines for different ages starting in December 2020, saying the shots were safe and effective. The shots are now available for children as young as six months, and boosters are authorized for children as young as 5 years.
The CDC hasn’t included Covid-19 vaccines on its regular immunization lists for adults and children, but in a box included with the schedules, has recommended the shots.
Given the urgent need, the FDA first authorized use of the shots on an emergency basis. The agency has since fully approved the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE for people as young as 12 years and Moderna Inc.’s shot for those 18 years and older. Advertisement - Scroll to Continue The CDC’s vaccine advisers said they went ahead with endorsing the vaccines for children, though the shots aren’t fully approved yet for children of all ages, because the benefits from use outweighed the risks. The vote was 15 to 0.
Studies have found the shots reduce the risk of severe disease and death, including in children. Research has found children are less likely than adults to get severely sick, though hospitalizations among children increased to new highs during the Omicron wave.
Covid-19 hospitalization rates in children aged 5 to 11 years were twice as high among unvaccinated children compared to those who were vaccinated during the winter Omicron wave, the CDC said in April.
The ACIP, composed of doctors and others specializing in infectious diseases, meets regularly to review various vaccines and related issues. During their two-day meeting this week, the panel reviewed several matters, including evaluating studies that found the Covid-19 shots safe and effective for pregnant women and children.
“Covid-19 vaccination is the single best way to protect people from serious Covid-19 illness,” Sara Oliver, a CDC epidemiologist said.
Also at the meeting, the advisers voted unanimously to include Covid-19 vaccines in the federally-funded Vaccines For Children program, which provides vaccines at no cost to certain children, including those who are on Medicaid, are uninsured and or are underinsured.
The children would only be able to get the vaccines via the Vaccines For Children program once the federal government stops buying the shots and drugmakers sell the shots commercially. The timeline for commercialization hasn’t been finalized, Dr. Jeanne Santoli, a CDC scientist, said.
Source: Wall Street Journal