prioritize

Once safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are available, tough choices will need to be made about who gets the first shots. A committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health – has proposed an equitable way to allocate the vaccine. They recommend first responders and health care workers take top priority. Older adults in congregate living situations would also be part of a first vaccination phase, according to the plan. We are faculty at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Southern California who have spent decades studying health economics and epidemiology. One of us is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Having seen firsthand the real risk...

Broad access to testing is one of the most powerful tools to keep the COVID-19 pandemic under control until there’s an effective vaccine in use. Diagnostic testing, which is used in medical settings to determine whether someone is infected with the coronavirus, is costly, slow and overstretched in the U.S. But that’s not the only type of test that can be used. I study public health policy to combat infectious disease epidemics. To slow the spread of the virus, public health programs need to catch more COVID-19 cases and catch them before they spread. Innovative screening tests offer promise because they are inexpensive, rapid, easily mass produced and don’t require laboratory processing. They can be implemented at large scale for frequent testing in schools, workplaces, airports and even ...

Tag: prioritize

Why COVID-19 vaccines need to prioritize ‘superspreaders’

Rapid screening tests that prioritize speed over accuracy could be key to ending the coronavirus pandemic