News Archive
Professor Terry Calls for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine in Harvard Law Blog
12/08/2020
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to decide soon whether to authorize the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines. While this is positive news, critical decisions remain about the equitable allocation of the vaccine, according to Professor Nicolas Terry, writing for Harvard Law’s Bill of Health blog.
With co-author Sarah de Guia, J.D., Executive Officer of ChangeLab Solutions, Professor Terry advised that equity is an important consideration in the distribution of the vaccine, given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19.
Last week, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met and recommended healthcare workers and nursing home residents and staff as the cohorts to receive the vaccination under Phase 1a.
In the U.S., the choices regarding Phase 1b may be even more controversial, potentially pitting saving the lives of elderly Americans against reducing infection by vaccinating essential workers; the latter cohort clearly encompassing large numbers of people of color and/or low-income.
“Legally, the CDC is only making recommendations,” the co-authors wrote. “In our heavily fragmented health care and public health systems, the actual decisions about distribution will lie with state governors, territorial, tribal, local health departments, or even health care systems, although most are likely to follow the CDC guidance. It is vital that they respect equity in practice, ensuring that vulnerable populations are identified and sought out. The fact that initial shipments of the vaccine to states are smaller than expected places a premium on transparent, equitable distribution.”
Professor Terry is the Hall Render Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Hall Center for Law and Health at IU McKinney, where he teaches healthcare and health policy courses. His recent scholarship has dealt with health privacy, mobile health, the Internet of Things, Big Data, AI, and the opioid overdose epidemic.
He is one of the permanent bloggers at the Bill of Health blog and is a host of “The Week in Health Law” podcast at TWIHL.com. He is @nicolasterry on twitter.
