State departments of health use their own criteria, largely modeled after those of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, to distribute vaccines among residents. As these vaccines roll off the assembly line, the federal government allocates them to the states. Vaccine line jumping is expected to get worse as eligibility expands, so the time to sharpen those legal tools is now.Īt the time of this writing, two COVID-19 vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This Post explores the legal tools available to the federal government to enforce vaccine guidelines. Governor Cuomo of New York has promised the same but goes even further: he seeks to impose massive fines on individuals and institutions, and he is recommending that the state legislature make jumping the vaccine line a crime. In California, Governor Newsom has promised that healthcare providers who jump the vaccine line will lose their licenses. Now, state governments administering the vaccine rollout are realizing that vaccine line jumping is a problem that requires a stick, not a carrot. To date, law enforcement has focused its resources on prosecuting price gouging, COVID-19 scams, and vaccine tampering. to skip the vaccine lines in their home country. And foreign nationals are landing in the U.S. Patients, and at least one employer, have been caught trying to access surplus vaccines by giving “charitable” gifts. There are widespread reports of healthcare workers who are at low risk of infection taking advantage of their institutions’ honor systems and getting their shots before their colleagues at higher risk. Now that COVID-19 vaccines are available for those at highest risk of infection, one more antisocial behavior must be added to the list: jumping the vaccine line. It said it was “fully confident” manufacturers and member states would meet their obligations.The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a variety of antisocial behaviors, from profiteers filling warehouses with disinfectants to tenants demanding sexual favors from clients who are behind on rent. WHO did not comment on the potential for vaccine hoarding in a flu pandemic but said mechanisms were being developed “so that countries can work together – not in competition with each other” to respond to such a crisis. The agreements include six of the largest seasonal flu manufacturers, such as GSK, Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, the WHO said. agency said it has signed legally binding agreements with 14 manufacturers for 10% of their pandemic flu vaccine “as it comes off the production line,” in a mix of donated doses and doses to be bought by the agency at an affordable price. By contrast, the WHO is seeking guarantees of 20% global supply for other types of pandemic in the wake of COVID. Article contentĪn international framework for pandemic flu allocates 10% of global supply for the World Health Organization to share with low- and middle-income countries. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. “We could potentially have a much worse problem with vaccine hoarding and vaccine nationalism in a flu outbreak than we saw with COVID,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which helps fund vaccine research. But during COVID-19, many vaccine-rich countries inoculated large proportions of their populations before considering sharing doses. Many countries’ pandemic plans say flu shots should go first to the most vulnerable while supply is limited. Less reassuring, however, is that most of the potential human doses are earmarked for wealthy countries in long-standing preparedness contracts, global health experts and the companies said. There has also been a push among companies to develop a bird flu vaccine for poultry, a market potentially far larger than that for humans. Others, like Sanofi, said they “stand ready” to begin production if needed, with existing H5N1 vaccine strains in stock. Activate your Online Access Now Article content If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is included in your subscription.
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