Health workers first to get vaccines?
Who will be the first to get COVID-19 vaccines? No decision has been made, but the consensus among many experts in the US and globally is that health care workers should be first, said Sema Sgaier of the Surgo Foundation, a non-profit group working on vaccine allocation issues.
An expert panel advising the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also considering giving high priority to workers in essential industries, people with certain medical conditions and people age 65 and older.
Once a vaccine gets a green light from the Food and Drug Administration, the panel will look at clinical trial data on side effects and how people of various ages, ethnicities and health statuses responded. That will determine the panel’s recommendations to the CDC on how to prioritise shots.
Over 100 scientists become vaccine myth busters
Under an UN initiative, over 100 scientists have joined hands to tackle the issue of misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines and build confidence by busting myths and sharing information on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines via the social media.
The UN has collaborated with The Vaccine Confidence Project at the University of London to undertake Team Halo, an initiative which aims to counter the misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines.
Globally, the initiative is supported by scientists who are involved in the race of coronavirus vaccine development across the world's top institutes like Imperial College London, Harvard Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, University of Barcelona and many others.
In India, over 22 scientists have joined Team Halo from renowned institutes such as Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital; PGIMER, Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, IIT Indore, Christian Medical College, SRM Research Institute, and Deep Children's Hospital and Research Centre.
