ADA Requests Oral Health Professionals Have First Crack at COVID-19 Vaccines

Kathleen T. O’Loughlin, DMD, MPH, executive director of the American Dental Association, asked members of a National Academies, Engineering, and Medicine panel—who are working on a plan for the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines—to include oral health professionals in the high-priority groups that will receive first access to newly developed COVID-19 vaccines. The ADA asserts that dentistry is part of essential healthcare services, thus, its workers should be able to receive vaccines first, along with medical professionals. While no official date has been set, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that two COVID-19 vaccines may be ready for distribution by the end of October or early November. Healthcare professionals, older adults, racial and ethnic minorities most impacted by COVID-19, and those who are incarcerated are said to receive first priority for vaccination. Read more here.