People With Intellectual Disabilities Need To Be Prioritized For COVID-19 Vaccine

By Tine Hansen-Turton and Liz Hayden

As pharmaceutical manufacturers race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, local, state and federal policymakers will need to make critical decisions regarding who has priority access. Some states have protocols that rank individuals with a disability or medical condition at a lower level of priority to receive medical treatment, including vaccines, during public health emergencies. Some, but not all, of these priority protocols have been addressed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights as the result of lawsuits. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and . . .