An advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control on Sunday recommended that the next two groups of Americans receiving the COVID-19 vaccine be those who are 75 years of age and older – including police officers, firefighters, teachers and grocery workers.
The first people to receive the vaccine, known as Phase 1A, are health professionals and long-term residents of health care institutions, such as nursing homes. Sunday’s recommendations outlined who the advisory group should prioritize in the next two phases of vaccine launch. The CDC recommended that Phase 1B include 75-year-old American and front-line workers. After that, Phase 1C should cover Americans between the ages of 65-74, people between the ages of 16 and 64 with high-risk medical conditions and other essential workers, the CDC confirmed on Sunday to CBS News.
The CDC defines essential front-line workers as “workers who are in sectors essential to the functioning of the company and are at a substantially higher risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2”. This group includes first responders, correction workers, US postal service workers, education workers, public transportation workers, grocery store workers, and those working in the manufacturing, food, and agricultural industries. About 30 million Americans join the group, according to the CDC.
Other key workers – who would enter Phase 1C if the CDC recommendations were followed – include those working in food, transport and logistics, finance, energy, media, construction, IT and communications, public safety and the sector. legal. This group includes about 57 million people.
The first Americans began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on December 14. The CDC said on Sunday that more than 500,000 doses had been administered out of the nearly 3 million doses of vaccine distributed. The doses distributed and administered so far are the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday a second vaccine, this one manufactured by Moderna, for distribution, with the initial batches of vaccine. ready on Sunday to be shipped.
New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said Sunday that the state, which was hardest hit at the start of the pandemic, has received all the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine batches it expects to receive. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned last week that the vaccine is “the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a long tunnel.”