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Be The Match BioTherapies Announces Expansion of Multi-Year Strategic Alliance with Orchard Therapeutics to Support European Commercial Launch of…

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Be The Match BioTherapies, an organization offering solutions for companies developing and commercializing cell and gene therapies, today announced an expansion of their multi-year partnership with Orchard Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ORTX), a global gene therapy leader, to include supply chain services in support of the upcoming commercial launch of Libmeldy (autologous CD34+ cells encoding the ARSA gene), Orchards gene therapy recently approved in Europe for the treatment of early-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD).

Through the expanded partnership, Be The Match BioTherapies will provide comprehensive support across the commercial supply chain for Libmeldy, including support of the onboarding and training of apheresis centers, oversight of the autologous cell collection process and delivery of both harvested cells to the manufacturing site and gene-corrected cells back to the qualified treatment center.

Orchards mission to transform the lives of people living with devastating genetic diseases like MLD is one that closely aligns with our mission at Be The Match, which is to save lives through cellular therapy, said Chris McClain, Senior Vice President, Sales and New Business Development at Be The Match BioTherapies. Leveraging our decades of experience and our far-reaching capabilities across the cell therapy supply chain, including our international network, we are well-positioned to support the commercial launch of this important new gene therapy in Europe.

Be The Match BioTherapies previously supported cell collection for Orchards clinical trials, and, through the expanded partnership, will continue to enable streamlined logistical support across each step of Libmeldys commercial development.

HSC gene therapies are personalized medicines that require precision to harvest a patients cells, transfer the cells to a lab for genetic modification and then return the gene-corrected cells back to a qualified treatment center to infuse into the patient, said Braden Parker, chief commercial officer of Orchard. As we move into the launch phase for Libmeldy in Europe, we are pleased to continue our collaboration with Be The Match BioTherapies to help enable us to maintain the efficient, high-quality supply chain necessary to deliver Libmeldy to MLD patients in need.

About Be The Match BioTherapies

Be The Match BioTherapies is the only cell and gene therapy solutions provider with customizable services to support the end-to-end cell therapy supply chain. Backed by the industry-leading experience of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)/Be The Match, and a research partnership with the CIBMTR (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research), the organization designs solutions that advance the development of cell and gene therapies across the globe.

Be The Match BioTherapies is dedicated to accelerating patient access to life-saving cell and gene therapies by providing high-quality cellular source material from the Be The Match Registry, the worlds largest and most diverse registry of more than 22 million potential blood stem cell donors. Through established relationships with apheresis, marrow collection and transplant centers worldwide, the organization develops, onboards, trains and manages expansive collection networks to advance cell therapies. Be The Match BioTherapies uses proven infrastructure consisting of regulatory compliance and managed logistics experts, as well as cell therapy supply chain case managers to successfully transport and deliver regulatory compliant life-saving therapies across the globe. Through the CIBMTR, Be The Match BioTherapies extends services beyond the cell therapy supply chain to include long-term follow-up tracking for the first two FDA-approved CAR-T therapies.

For more information, visit http://www.BeTheMatchBioTherapies.com or follow Be The Match BioTherapies on LinkedIn or Twitter at @BTMBioTherapies.

About MLD and Libmeldy/OTL-200

MLD is a rare and life-threatening inherited disease of the bodys metabolic system occurring in approximately one in every 100,000 live births. MLD is caused by a mutation in the arylsulfatase-A (ARSA) gene that results in the accumulation of sulfatides in the brain and other areas of the body, including the liver, gallbladder, kidneys, and/or spleen. Over time, the nervous system is damaged, leading to neurological problems such as motor, behavioral and cognitive regression, severe spasticity and seizures. Patients with MLD gradually lose the ability to move, talk, swallow, eat and see. In its late infantile form, mortality at five years from onset is estimated at 50% and 44% at 10 years for juvenile patients.1

Libmeldy (autologous CD34+ cell enriched population that contains hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) transduced ex vivo using a lentiviral vector encoding the human ARSA gene), also known as OTL-200, has been approved by the European Commission for the treatment of MLD in eligible early-onset patients characterized by biallelic mutations in the ARSA gene leading to a reduction of the ARSA enzymatic activity in children with i) late infantile or early juvenile forms, without clinical manifestations of the disease, or ii) the early juvenile form, with early clinical manifestations of the disease, who still have the ability to walk independently and before the onset of cognitive decline. Libmeldy is the first therapy approved for eligible patients with early-onset MLD.

The most common adverse reaction attributed to treatment with Libmeldy was the occurrence of anti-ARSA antibodies. In addition to the risks associated with the gene therapy, treatment with Libmeldy is preceded by other medical interventions, namely bone marrow harvest or peripheral blood mobilization and apheresis, followed by myeloablative conditioning, which carry their own risks. During the clinical studies, the safety profiles of these interventions were consistent with their known safety and tolerability.

For more information about Libmeldy, please see the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) available on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) website.

Libmeldy is not approved outside of the European Union, UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. OTL-200 is an investigational therapy in the U.S.

Libmeldy was developed in partnership with the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) in Milan, Italy.

About Orchard

Orchard Therapeutics is a global gene therapy leader dedicated to transforming the lives of people affected by rare diseases through the development of innovative, potentially curative gene therapies. Our ex vivo autologous gene therapy approach harnesses the power of genetically modified blood stem cells and seeks to correct the underlying cause of disease in a single administration. In 2018, Orchard acquired GSKs rare disease gene therapy portfolio, which originated from a pioneering collaboration between GSK and the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy. Orchard now has one of the deepest and most advanced gene therapy product candidate pipelines in the industry spanning multiple therapeutic areas where the disease burden on children, families and caregivers is immense and current treatment options are limited or do not exist.

Orchard has its global headquarters in London and U.S. headquarters in Boston. For more information, visit http://www.orchard-tx.com, or follow Orchard on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as anticipates, believes, expects, intends, projects, anticipates, and future or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include express or implied statements relating to, among other things, Orchards business strategy and goals, including its plans and expectations for the commercialization of Libmeldy (OTL-200) in Europe, the therapeutic potential of Libmeldy and Orchards product candidates, and the expected benefits from Orchards partnership with Be The Match BioTherapies. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Orchards control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: risks relating to the Companys inability, or the inability of Be The Match BioTherapies, to support a successful commercial launch of Libmeldy. Orchard undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Other risks and uncertainties faced by Orchard include those identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in Orchards annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as subsequent filings and reports filed with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Orchards views as of the date hereof, and Orchard does not assume and specifically disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

1Mahmood et al. Metachromatic Leukodystrophy: A Case of Triplets with the Late Infantile Variant and a Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of Child Neurology 2010, DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0883073809341669

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Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based Therapies Market 2021: Focuses at the key worldwide companies to Define, Describe and Analyses the sales…

Brandessence Market Research has published a detailed report on the Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based Therapies market. This market research report was prepared after considering the COVID-19 impacts and monitoring the market for a minimum of five years. The report provides you with growing market opportunities, revenue drivers, challenges, pricing trends & factors, and future market assessments. Our research team has implemented a robust research methodology that includes SWOT analysis, Porters 5 Force analysis, and real-time analysis. Furthermore, they have conducted interviews with the industry experts to offer a report that helps the clients to formulate strategies accordingly.

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Editing Reproduction: CRISPR and preventing heritable diseases, With Dr. Dietrich Egli and Dr. Sam Sternberg – Columbia University Irving Medical…

PhD, Molecular Biology, University of Zurich, Maimonides Assistant Professor of Developmental Cell Biology, Columbia University BA, Biochemistry, Columbia University; PhD, Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Host: Dr. Frances Onyimba, PS '12 Assistant Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine

The genome we are endowed with at conception determines much of our health as an adult. Most human diseases have a heritable component and thus it may be possible to prevent them through heritable genome editing.Preventing disease from the beginning of life, and before irreversible damage occurs is just one of the many transformative opportunities of CRISPR/Cas systems.The ability to target an enzymatic activity to a precise location of the genome is already transforming science and is also poised to change medicine in many ways.

Please join us as our special panel explores the state of the field and distinguish science from science fiction.Dr. Sternberg will explain CRISPR and its origins, its ability to recruit enzymatic activities to the genome in a targeted manner, and how it has evolved into a powerful precision gene-editing tool. Then Dr. Egli Dieter will present pioneering research at Columbia and elsewhere on CRISPR's application in Reproduction, and its therapeutic potential in the adult population.

Time will be allocated for Q&A.

Dr. Dietrich Egli,grew up in Switzerland, and received his Ph.D. in molecular biology in 2003 from the University of Zurich with the mentorship of Prof. Walter Schaffner. He then joined the laboratory of Prof. Kevin Eggan at Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow where he studied somatic cell reprogramming. Joining the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute as one of the founding members in 2008, first as a postdoctoral fellow and from 2011 as an independent group leader, his group made numerous advances in somatic cell nuclear transfer and mitochondrial replacement. He is both a NYSCF Druckenmiller Alumn as well as a NYSCF Robertson Fellow Alumn, and is now the Maimonides Assistant Professor of Developmental Cell Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Areas of research in his group include human embryonic development, somatic cell reprogramming, modeling of metabolic disease using pluripotent stem cells, cell cycle regulation and double strand break repair, and preventing the transmission of disease-causing mutations in human reproduction.

Samuel H. Sternberg, PhD, runs a research laboratory at Columbia University, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He received his B.A. in Biochemistry from Columbia University in 2007, graduating summa cum laude, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2014, under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Doudna. He earned graduate student fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, and received the Scaringe Award and the Harold Weintraub Graduate Student Award. Sam's research focuses on the mechanism of DNA targeting by RNA-guided bacterial immune systems (CRISPR-Cas) and on the development of these systems for genome engineering applications. He is the recent recipient of the NIH Directors New Innovator Award, and is a Sloan Fellow and Pew Biomedical Scholar. In addition to publishing his work in leading scientific journals, he co-authored a popular science book with Jennifer Doudna, entitled A Crack in Creation, about the discovery, development, and applications of CRISPR gene-editing technology.

Frances OnyimbaMD is a gastroenterologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center with a focus in esophageal diseases and GI motility disorders. She completed medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons prior to completing her internal medicine residency and a fellowship in GI motility and Neurogastroenterology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She subsequently completed her general GI fellowship at University of California San Diego, where she served as a chief fellow. In 2019, she was selected into the Young Physician Leadership Scholars Program by the American College of Gastroenterology for leadership development and physician advocacy. Her interests include health communications and innovative programs and practices within healthcare.

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U. Cancer Center pilot projects: investigating cancer connections – The Brown Daily Herald

Eight labs who were recipients of the University Cancer Centers funding in December for projects advancing cancer research will use the funds to delve into cancer biology, cancer therapeutics and population science.

Four of the eight projects are investigating immunotherapy for gastrointestinal cancers, the tumor environments impact on cancer cell growth, the potential application of an FDA-approved Parkinsons drug to treat glioma brain tumors and the ability of a novel drug to target cancer cells that exhibit heightened aggressiveness following immunotherapy, The Herald previously reported.

The Herald spoke with three of the four other principal investigators that received grants.

Assistant Professor of Medicine Hina Khans pilot project will study the effects of blocking the antibody for chitinase 3-like-1, or CHI3L1, in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. CHI3L1 is a protein that plays an important role in tissue repair, and elevated levels of the protein indicate poor outcomes in advanced stage cancer patients. The researchers will test whether blocking the antibody a molecule that binds CHI3L1 will prevent cell resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors in this type of lung cancer.

Assistant Professor of Medicine Olin Liang is interested in exploring womens ability to fight off leukemia and other blood diseases later in life relative to men. While the effect of aging on blood cancer development has been well-studied, not much research has gone into studying sex differences, Liang said.

Past work from the Liang lab has shown that the bone marrow environment remains healthier longer in women, leading to better blood cell production and immune response. By transplanting bone marrow stem cells from young male mice into middle-aged male and female mice, the researchers were able to compare the expression of these cells amongst the two sexes. They found higher expression in female middle-aged mice, which is indicative of a healthier bone marrow environment. This observation was due to receptors molecules that can interact with hormones to produce a response in a cell on the surface of bone marrow stem cells that were uniquely responsive to sex hormones predominantly found in women.

We have narrowed it down to two sex hormone receptors that may play a role, Liang said, referring to the receptors for follicle-timulating hormone and androgen hormone. The lab plans to use the Cancer Center pilot project funds to further study the importance of these receptors.

Using gene editing technology, the researchers plan on removing genes that code for these hormone receptors from model organisms. This step will allow them to test the effect that the loss of one or both of the receptors has on female stem cell expression levels. If the elimination of the sex hormone receptor diminishes stem cell expression, that may indicate that the receptor plays a regulatory role.

The Liang lab believes that results from these experiments will not only offer greater insight to the development of blood cancers, but also help in the formulation of sex-specific treatments. Liang hopes this research leads to treatments that enhance the male (blood cell producing) system to reduce risk of age-related blood cancer, or even other diseases.

Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry Mamiko Yajima studies the expression of germline molecules, which are normally only expressed during development, and how they contribute to plasticity, or the cells adaptability. Her pilot project will focus on the specific germline factor DEAD-Box Helicase 4 (DDX4), which has been found to be abnormally expressed in the tumors of certain cancers, such as small cell lung cancer and melanoma.

Yajimas lab has previously studied the expression of DDX4 in cells and organisms like sea urchins and mice. She plans to test if (DDX4) actually contributes to plasticity in the context of cancer. Yajima believes that as a germline factor, DDX4 may increase cancer cells adaptability, allowing them to develop drug resistance and migrate throughout the body more frequently.

The Yajima lab plans on using the Cancer Center funding to partner with Director of Thoracic Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital Christopher G. Azzoli and Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Maria L. Garcia-Moliner to analyze DDX4 expression in cancer patient samples.

I applied for this funding with the specific goal to have access to clinical samples, Yajima said. This next stage of the project will facilitate collaboration between me, a basic biologist, and physician scientists that have the expertise to help me answer the question I want to study in a clinical setting.

To identify whether DDX4 expression correlates with patient survival, the lab will also use the funds to conduct clinical data mining of patient gene expression using the Universitys supercomputer.

Associate Professor of Dermatology and Epidemiology Eunyoung Cho studies the role of dietary factors in the development of chronic diseases. Previous work from Chos lab found that eating foods containing high levels of citrus, such as grapefruits, oranges and figs, is associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. The Cho lab plans to use the Cancer Center pilot project funds to determine the component of citrus fruit responsible for the increased risk of melanoma, the most fatal type of skin cancer.

Cho believes that furanocoumarins, a class of compounds present in high levels in citrus fruits, are what lead to the higher rates of skin cancer. These compounds can absorb ultraviolet radiation from sunlight and become activated, damaging DNA and causing mutations that can result in cancer.

To test this hypothesis, Cho has partnered with Associate Professor of Medical Science Elena Oancea, who specializes in melanoma research at the molecular level. They plan on measuring whether melanin-forming skin cells show increased levels of DNA damage when exposed to furanocoumarins and UV light.

If their data supports that furanocoumarins increase risk of cancer, this could open the door to population-based studies. Cho described one potential future direction as assessing whether furanocoumarin levels in human urine samples are indicative of melanoma risk.

Its very interesting to think about citrus fruit is something you eat all the time, Cho said. People dont understand that when you eat grapefruit (and) then go into the sunlight, you may actually increase your chance of (getting) skin cancer.

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COVID-19 can kill heart muscle cells, interfere with contraction Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – Washington University School…

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Study reveals details of how coronavirus infects heart; models of tissue damage may help develop potential therapies

A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can invade and replicate inside heart muscle cells, causing cell death and interfering with heart muscle contraction. The image of engineered heart tissue shows human heart muscle cells (red) infected with SARS-CoV-2 (green).

Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms. But its been an open question whether these problems are caused by the virus infecting the heart, or an inflammatory response to viral infection elsewhere in the body. Such details have implications for understanding how best to treat coronavirus infections that affect the heart.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence that COVID-19 patients heart damage is caused by the virus invading and replicating inside heart muscle cells, leading to cell death and interfering with heart muscle contraction. The researchers used stem cells to engineer heart tissue that models the human infection and could help in studying the disease and developing possible therapies.

The study is published Feb. 26 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Basic to Translational Science.

Early on in the pandemic, we had evidence that this coronavirus can cause heart failure or cardiac injury in generally healthy people, which was alarming to the cardiology community, said senior author Kory J. Lavine, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine. Even some college athletes who had been cleared to go back to competitive athletics after COVID-19 infection later showed scarring in the heart. There has been debate over whether this is due to direct infection of the heart or due to a systemic inflammatory response that occurs because of the lung infection.

Our study is unique because it definitively shows that, in patients with COVID-19 who developed heart failure, the virus infects the heart, specifically heart muscle cells.

Lavine and his colleagues including collaborators Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine, and Michael J. Greenberg, PhD, an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics also used stem cells to engineer tissue that models how human heart tissue contracts. Studying these heart tissue models, they determined that viral infection not only kills heart muscle cells but destroys the muscle fiber units responsible for heart muscle contraction.

They also showed that this cell death and loss of heart muscle fibers can happen even in the absence of inflammation.

Inflammation can be a second hit on top of damage caused by the virus, but the inflammation itself is not the initial cause of the heart injury, Lavine said.

Other viral infections have long been associated with heart damage, but Lavine said SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is unique in the effect it has on the heart, especially in the immune cells that respond to the infection. In COVID-19, immune cells called macrophages, monocytes and dendritic cells dominate the immune response. For most other viruses that affect the heart, the immune systems T cells and B cells are on the scene.

COVID-19 is causing a different immune response in the heart compared with other viruses, and we dont know what that means yet, Lavine said. In general, the immune cells seen responding to other viruses tend to be associated with a relatively short disease that resolves with supportive care. But the immune cells we see in COVID-19 heart patients tend to be associated with a chronic condition that can have long-term consequences. These are associations, so we will need more research to understand what is happening.

Part of the reason these questions of causation in heart damage have been hard to answer is the difficulty in studying heart tissue from COVID-19 patients. The researchers were able to validate their findings by studying tissue from four COVID-19 patients who had heart injury associated with the infection, but more research is needed.

To that end, Lavine and Diamond, are working to develop a mouse model of the heart injury. To emphasize the urgency of the work, Lavine pointed to the insidious nature of the heart damage COVID-19 can cause.

Even young people who had very mild symptoms can develop heart problems later on that limit their exercise capacity, Lavine said. We want to understand whats happening so we can prevent it or treat it. In the meantime, we want everyone to take this virus seriously and do their best to take precautions and stop the spread, so we dont have an even larger epidemic of preventable heart disease in the future.

This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers R01HL141086, R01 HL138466, R01 HL139714, 75N93019C00062 and R01 AI127828; the Burroughs Welcome Fund, grant number 1014782; the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, grant number HR001117S0019; the March of Dimes Foundation, grant number FY18-BOC-430198; The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, grant number 8038-88; and the Childrens Discovery Institute of Washington University and St. Louis Childrens Hospital, grant numbers CH-II-2017628 and PM-LI-2019-829. Imaging was performed in the Washington University Center for Cellular Imaging (WUCCI), which is funded in part by the Childrens Discovery Institute of Washington University and St. Louis Childrens Hospital, grant numbers CDI-CORE-2015-505 and CDI-CORE-2019-813; and The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, grant number 3770. The authors thank Dr. Cynthia Goldsmith for help interpreting electron microscopy micrographs and the McDonnell Genome Institute (MGI) at Washington University School of Medicine for assistance in performing sequencing and analysis.

Bailey AL, et al. SARS-CoV-2 infects human engineered heart tissues and models COVID-19 myocarditis. Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Basic to Translational Science. Feb. 26, 2021.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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COVID-19 can kill heart muscle cells, interfere with contraction Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis - Washington University School...

Vaccinating by age groups is unfair, particularly to minorities, advisory panel tells CDC – USA TODAY

Four million doses will be released on March 2 with a total of 20 million to be released by the end of March. USA TODAY

Many states prioritized COVID-19 vaccines for people over 75, then moved to thoseover 65, but they shouldn't keep stepping down by age, an advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

The approachis inherently unfair to minorities, committee members said, because they have a lower life-expectancyand because people of color are dying of COVID-19 at younger ages than white Americans even in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

"I'm not in favor of any part of an age eligibility bracket under 65," saidDr. Jos Romero, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences inLittle Rock and chairman of theAdvisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The committee disagreed with plans in some states to require people to show proof that they have two medical conditions on a pre-specified list before being allowed to be vaccinated.

As of Feb. 25, CVS will offer the COVID vaccine in 17 states by appointment.(Photo: Scott Eisen/CVS Health via AP Images)

People with two medical conditions that are well-controlled might be at lower risk of serious COVID-19 than those with one out-of-control condition or with a less common disease that wasn't frequent enough make the list.

For example, although Type 2 diabetes is considered a highest-risk condition,Type 1 isn't always, even though people with thisless common, autoimmune version are at the same risk, notedDr. Katherine Poehling, a professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest School of Medicine inWinston-Salem, North Carolina.

Yes, there will be some people who lie about their medical conditions, admitted Dr. Helen Talbot, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "There's always someone who finds a way to cheat."

But it's better to let in a few cheaters than to deny vaccine to people who really need it, she said.

The other category of people who should be prioritized, committee members said, are those who care for others who may not be able to be vaccinated.

Dr. Grace Lee, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases atthe Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine inStanford, California, cited the parents of children who received stem cell transplants.

"Being able to protect those individuals in the absence of any high-risk medical condition, I think in and of itself, is important, in part because we can't vaccinate young kids at this time," she said.

Every state makes its own vaccination allotment plan, so there's a lot of mixed messages about who should be prioritized in the next few monthsas vaccine supply remains tight, committee members said.

For that reason, committee members said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, authorized over the weekend, should be added to the general pool of available vaccines, rather than targeted to any particular group or population.

The Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning Americans to remain vigilant against the coronavirus as the 3rd vaccine is rolled out. (March 1) AP Domestic

Theyreemphasized their commitment to equitable distribution of vaccines, even as they are distributed to as many people as possible.

"I feel very challenged by ensuring that we continue to keep equity as a focus for implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program," Lee said.

Many vaccine distribution facilities are so worried about getting precisely the right people vaccinated that they're turning too many away, she continued.

"Since our intent is to vaccinate everyone anyway, other than the most egregious of situations, whether or not I get high-risk condition A versus Bcorrect, I think, is less important than just making sure that we are providing access," she said.

About50 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Bythe end of this month, Pfizer-BioNTech will have provided a total of 120 million doses of its vaccine, enough to vaccinate 60 million people; Moderna will have provided 100 million doses to vaccinate 50 million people; and J&J will provide 20 million doses of its single-shot vaccine.That's enough to cover more than half of the 210 million adults in the USA.

In its second four-hour meeting in two days, the committeeconsidered whether to extend the recommended period between the two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Modernavaccines.

Some suggested a delay would allow more vaccine to be distributed, but committee members said they did not feel there was enough data to justify delaying the second dose of either vaccine.

There were more mixed opinions on whether people who had symptomatic COVID-19 would need both doses of the two-dose vaccines.

Basic immunology suggests that the illness would act as a primary dose and the first shot as a booster, Talbot said. "I don't need any more data. We've all taken immunology," she said.

Others raised questions about whether the risks of vaccination for people who have had COVID-19 would outweigh the benefits, particularly of a second shot.CDC officials said there is not enough information to answer that question.

Implementing such a policy would be challenging, because it's not clear how long protection lasts and how sick someone has to be to develop adequate natural protection.

Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

Without masks and a vaccine, we could reach Herd Immunity from COVID-19, but deaths would skyrocket. We break down the science of it. USA TODAY

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Vaccinating by age groups is unfair, particularly to minorities, advisory panel tells CDC - USA TODAY