How CDC is Making COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations

Hi. I'm doctor Amanda Cohn.

I'm a physician and a medical officer

in CDC's National Center for Immunization

and Respiratory Diseases, and currently

service the executive secretary for the

Advisory Committee on Immunization

Practices, or ACIP.

I'd like to share with you how this

devoted group of experts develops

recommendations and advises CDC on the use

of vaccines in our country. ACIP is

dedicated to making evidence and science

based recommendations to prevent and

control vaccine preventable diseases like

COVID-19. They are motivated by their

intention to save lives, are free from

political influence, and ensure

transparency by holding all of their

meetings open to the public and making

them available online.

The committee is made up of fifteen voting

members, who are medical and public health

experts from across the United States,

including one person who represents the

general public. They review information

about the safety and effectiveness of

vaccines and clinical trial results, and

then vote to recommend whether those

vaccines should be used in the

United States. The committee also has

non-voting members, such as

representatives from

the American Nurses Association, American

Medical Association, American Academy of

Pediatrics and the American College of

Physicians. It's important to have these

individuals on the committee, because they

offer the perspective of doctors, nurses

and other healthcare providers who follow

CDC's vaccine recommendations and put them

into practice. A lot of effort has gone

into developing, studying and authorizing

COVID-19 vaccines quickly to respond to

the pandemic we are facing. It is

understandable that you may be concerned

about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines,

given how quickly they have been developed.

Despite this rapid pace, COVID-19 vaccines

go through the same rigorous review

process as all other vaccines, before this

committee votes on whether to recommend

them. Vaccine safety is always the top

priority and it is no different for

COVID-19 vaccines. Since the beginning of

the pandemic, ACIP has met often, to stay

informed about COVID-19 vaccines. After

each COVID-19 vaccine is authorized or

approved for use in the United States,

ACIP will quickly meet to review available

data from the rigorous studies that vaccine

manufacturers conducted, to show that each

vaccine meets safety and effectiveness

standards. After discussion and public

comment, the committee will vote on

whether or not to recommend the vaccine,

and if so, who should receive it. This is

the same process ACIP uses for all

vaccines, the same process that has

recommended the safe and successful

vaccines that protect our communities from

diseases that once killed hundreds of

thousands each year. It is my sincere hope

that hundreds of thousands more lives

will be saved with safe vaccines for

COVID-19. However, no one tool alone is

going to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

For now, your best protection will be a

combination of getting a COVID-19 vaccine

when it is recommended for you, and then

continuing to cover your nose and mouth

with a mask, stay at least six feet away

from others, and wash your hands often.

COVID-19 vaccines will be an important

tool to help stop this pandemic. For more

information, go to cdc.gov/coronavirus