(Tuesday, October 5, 2021) – Once a vaccine is approved and licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the CDC develops recommendations on how to use vaccines to control disease in the United States based on clinical efficacy and cost effectiveness data. The recommendations stand as public health guidance for safe use of vaccines and related biological products and therefore impacts availability of, and access to a given vaccine.

COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted minority communities—preliminary data indicate that compared to the White population in the U.S., the risk of dying from COVID-19 is 3.57 and 1.88 times higher among Black and Hispanic Americans respectively. Alarmingly, these disparities could very well be exacerbated by what is anticipated to be an especially severe upcoming flu and pneumonia season and as we know all too well:  When America gets a cold, communities of color get pneumonia.

Each year approximately 50,000 Americans die from complications related to pneumonia and the death rate among minority populations is disproportionately high. Fortunately, two new pneumococcal vaccines that protect against more strains of the disease than previously available vaccines, have recently been approved by the FDA. The next step is for the CDC to review these vaccines and make recommendations for their use. What the CDC decides will be important in determining when and how easy it is for people of color to receive these vaccines.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) comprises medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the civilian population of the United States. The recommendations stand as public health guidance for safe use of vaccines and related biological products.