Development of COVID-19 vaccine policy - United States, 2020-2023

Sara E Oliver; Megan Wallace; Evelyn Twentyman; Danielle L Moulia; Monica Godfrey; Ruth Link-Gelles; Sarah Meyer; Katherine E Fleming-Dutra; Elisha Hall; JoEllen Wolicki; Jessica MacNeil; Beth P Bell; Grace M Lee; Matthew F Daley; Amanda Cohn; Melinda Wharton

doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.022

Development of COVID-19 vaccine policy - United States, 2020-2023

Vaccine. 2023 Dec 28:S0264-410X(23)01466-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.022. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sara E Oliver¹, Megan Wallace², Evelyn Twentyman², Danielle L Moulia², Monica Godfrey², Ruth Link-Gelles², Sarah Meyer², Katherine E Fleming-Dutra², Elisha Hall², JoEllen Wolicki², Jessica MacNeil², Beth P Bell³, Grace M Lee⁴, Matthew F Daley⁵, Amanda Cohn⁶, Melinda Wharton²

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. Electronic address: yxo4@cdc.gov.
² National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
³ University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁴ Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Denver, CO, USA.
⁶ National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 38158297
DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.022

Abstract

COVID-19 vaccines represent a great scientific and public health achievement in the face of overwhelming pressures from a global pandemic, preventing millions of hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines in the United States. Over 675 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the United States, and over 80% of the U.S. population has had at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, over one million people died from COVID-19, and over six million were hospitalized. It has been estimated that COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18 million additional hospitalizations and more than 3 million additional deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 through June 2023, ACIP had 35 COVID-19 focused meetings and 24 votes for COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. ACIP had the critical task of rapidly and thoroughly reviewing emerging and evolving data on COVID-19 epidemiology and vaccines, as well as making comprehensive population-based recommendations for vaccine policy and considerations for implementation through a transparent and evidence-based framework. Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, recommended through transparent policy discussions with ACIP, remain the best tool we have to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Vaccine policy.