On Sunday, a federal advisory panel voted to put people 75 and older and essential workers next in line for COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1.
Those essential workers include firefighters and police officers; teachers and school staff; food and agriculture workers; manufacturing workers; corrections workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; public transit and grocery store workers.
Phase 1b of allocation will include people 75 and older and essential workers. Phase 1c will include adults ages 65 to 75 and people ages 16 to 64 who have high-risk medical conditions and other essential workers.
Previously, the panel voted for nursing home residents and health care workers to be the first to receive the vaccine.
All in the first tier of the vaccine distribution have not received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and another dose is required after 21 days, so it is not certain when essential workers could receive the vaccine. The chief science adviser for the U.S. government’s vaccine distribution effort says it will be shipping nearly 8 million doses of coronavirus vaccine Monday.
The vote comes after the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use.
This is a developing story and we will continue to update you as we learn more.
(AP and CNN contributed to this report.)
