Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center found that people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who contract COVID-19 are 3 times more likely to suffer serious illness or need hospitalization than individual without diabetes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted on Tuesday that healthcare workers and nursing home residents should be the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccines once they are approved. Both pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer have applied for emergency use authorization for their vaccine candidates with the Food and Drug Administration, so distribution may begin within weeks.
But the Vanderbilt team wants policy makers to include people with diabetes in their vaccine recommendations. According to the CDC more than 34 million Americans have diabetes — about 1 in 10 — and 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes.
“I think these data support prioritizing individual with type 1 or individuals with type 2 diabetes for immunization alongside other high-risk medical conditions that increase the risk of getting very sick with COVID-19, such as heart or lung disease,” said Dr. Justin Gregory, the lead investigator of the Vanderbilt study.
According to Science Magazine, Gregory added that “people do not have to live in fear and have undue anxiety, but they need to be really diligent in doing the things we should all be doing. All of us should be washing our hands and staying six feet apart.”
The American Diabetes Association states that there is not enough data to show whether people with diabetes are more likely to get COVID-19, but studies show they are at risk for more severe complications if they get it.