The U.S. Can and Should Vaccinate Every Health Care Worker in the World

As the United States seems close to controlling a pandemic that has killed 600,000 Americans, we must recognize that in much of the rest of the world, the pandemic continues to rage. Now, with the U.S. vaccine supply far outstripping our domestic needs, the U.S. is taking action, with President Biden’s announcement of the first major global distribution of American vaccine doses. But there are billions of vulnerable people around the world, and at current vaccination rates many will be waiting a long time for a shot. Health care workers around the globe should not be left waiting. As its first major global vaccination intervention, the U.S. should aim to vaccinate the world’s health care workers, urgently exporting doses both to the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility and, through bilateral partnerships, to other nations. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] There are moral, humanitarian and practical reasons for focusing on health care workers. First, the moral reasons: These workers are highly exposed to infection, particularly during viral surges; unlike most other work, there is little these workers can do to reduce their exposure to people actively sick with COVID-19. In fact, while other front-line workers do face risks, health care workers spend all their days with patients with this disease. With high-quality PPE and rapid diagnostics in short supply, these workers face some of the highest risks of getting infected, getting sick and d...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news