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American Dental Education Association

Volume 1, No. 93, January 12, 2021

ADEA Advocacy in Action

This appears weekly in the ADEA Advocate to summarize and provide direct links to recent advocacy actions taken by ADEA. Please let us know what you think and how we might improve its usefulness.

 

Dental School COVID Related Capital Needs

Sep 25 – Joint in Support of Supplemental COVID-19 Relief

Aug 5 – Joint Regarding Institutional Aid

 

Other COVID Issues

Nov 30 – Sign-on regarding Voices of the Pandemic

Nov 20 – ADEA to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices

Nov 20 – Joint in support of Borrower Relief extension

 

Additional Resources

ADEA on State Advocacy

NHSC Service Loan Repayment Program and application

For a full list of ADEA Letters and Policy Memos, click .
CDC Issues Final Guidance for Phase 1

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its final for Phase 1. Having previously issued guidance for Phase 1a, Phase 1b will prioritize adults ages 75 and older and frontline essential workers, including first responders, teachers and child care workers and transit and grocery store workers, among others. Phase 1c, the third and final Phase 1 group, includes adults ages 65 to 74, those ages 16 to 64 with a high-risk medical condition and frontline essential workers not covered under Phase 1b.

States Allow Oral Health Professionals to Provide Vaccines for COVID-19

 

As vaccines for COVID-19 are becoming available, some states have allowed or are considering allowing dentists to give the vaccines. At the time of writing, at least eight states have already granted dentists permission. , , , , , and all allow dentists to give vaccinations for COVID-19, and the orders in Connecticut and New York also apply to dental hygienists. Dentists in are also permitted to give the vaccinations under a 2019 law that gave them permission to give vaccines for a variety of conditions. Legislation that would allow dentists to give vaccines has also been introduced in , and .

 

Generally, the orders require oral health professionals who wish to give the vaccine to undergo additional training.

Georgia Senate Elections

 

The runoff election for both Georgia Senate seats was completed last week and the two Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, defeated the two Republican incumbents in close races. The Senate make up for the 117th Congress stands at 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats.

 

Democrats will control the Senate after Jan. 20 when Vice President-elect Kamala Harris becomes President of the Senate. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will become the Majority Leader and Democrats will chair committees. However, the committees’ make up will also be split 50/50. This means that it will require at least one Republican vote to report out legislation and recommend nominations for any Presidential appointees.
2021 State Legislative Sessions Begin Across the Country

 

January marks the traditional convening of many state legislatures throughout the country. Most state legislatures, unlike Congress, only meet part-time and only for a portion of the year. With more than , and less than half expected to meet beyond May, ADEA is anticipating considerable state activity over the coming months.

 

One early highlight among legislative proposals is a bill in that would create a task force to examine oral health and barriers that limit access to care. Early bill introductions in other states have also indicated trending topics this year are likely to include telehealth/teledentistry, COVID-19-related liability protection for health care providers, regulation of prescription opioids and laws governing the sale of vapor products and flavored tobacco.

 

The ADEA Advocate will continue to provide weekly updates on major legislative activity, and ADEA’s will be updated daily to help you stay current on legislative and regulatory activities in your state.
Historic Firsts at OHSU When Dentist Gives COVID-19 Vaccine

 

"The of COVID-19 vaccine at [Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)] will be given by Ryan Thrower. Remarkably, she is the first dental resident in the United States, and to our knowledge the world, to administer a COVID-19 vaccine,” OHSU Chief Medical Officer Renee Edwards said. “She is a woman. She is a person of color.”

 

Right now, the only dentists in Oregon giving COVID-19 vaccinations are OHSU dentists. , Chair-elect of the ADEA Board of Directors, shared the story with the dental education community.

FDA Rejects Changes in COVID-19 Vaccine Protocols

 

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a making it clear that people must receive two full COVID-19 vaccine dosages using the same vaccine within the designated time period.

 

As the coronavirus continues to ravage the United States and in the face of the expected spread of the easily transmissible variant of coronavirus from the United Kingdom, Operation Warp Speed officials and some in the medical community have suggested extending the time between dosages, changing dose amounts or mixing vaccines—with the first dosage being from one vaccine maker and the second from the other. These suggested protocol changes were made in an effort to increase the number of people vaccinated. Concerns about the proposed changes were raised because these protocols are untested, and as the FDA notes there are no data to support them. However, the FDA’s statement effectively quashed the possibility of changes in the administering protocol for the COVID-19 vaccines, at least for the moment.

The is published weekly. Its purpose is to keep ADEA members abreast of federal and state issues and events of interest to the academic dentistry and the dental and research communities.

 

©2021

American Dental Education Association

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B. Timothy Leeth, CPA

ADEA Chief Advocacy Officer

 

Bridgette DeHart, J.D.

ADEA Director of Federal Relations and Advocacy

 

Phillip Mauller, M.P.S.

ADEA Director of State Relations and Advocacy

 

Brian Robinson

ADEA Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations

 

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