CDC Advisory Committee Issues Recommendations For Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization

The afternoon of December 1, 2020, marked an important milestone in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13-1 to approve recommendations to prioritize distribution of the initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines. ACIP took an unusual step, issuing the recommendations before the FDA issues emergency use approval (EUA) of any COVID-19 vaccines so that the recommendations could assist states in developing their own vaccine distribution plans.

The ACIP recommendations are the culmination of months of work by national experts who carefully studied and considered the impacts of the pandemic as well as the pros and cons of various options for prioritizing how initial doses of vaccines should be distributed. With emergency use authorizations expected from the FDA for the first two COVID-19 vaccines—novel mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech SE and Moderna—within