Panel: People over 75, essential workers next for vaccines

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NE: OR. — A federal advisory panel recommended Sunday that people and older and essential workers like firefighters, teachers and grocery store workers should be next in line for CO9ID- shots, while a second vaccine began rolling out to hospitals as the nation works to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.

The two developments came amid a vaccination program that began only in the last week and has given initial shots to about 6,000 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CO9ID- vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech already is being distributed, and regulators last week gave approval to the one from 0oderna Inc. that began shipping Sunday.

Earlier this month, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said health care workers and nursing home residents — about 2 million people — should be at the very front of the line for the vaccines.

Sunday’s vote by the panel was who should be next in line, and by a vote of - , it decided that it should be people and older, who number about 20 million, as well as certain front-line workers, who total about 0 million.

The essential workers include firefighters and police; teachers and school staff; those working in food, agricultural and manufacturing sectors; corrections workers; 8.S. Postal Service employees; public transit workers; and grocery store workers.

They are considered at very high risk of infection because their jobs are critical and reTuire them to be in regular contact with other people.

It’s not clear how long it will take to vaccinate those groups. 9accine doses have come out slower than earlier projections. But at the same time, some experts noted that not everyone who is recommended to get vaccinated may choose to get a shot.

The committee also voted that behind those groups should be people aged 6 to , numbering about 0 million; those aged 6 to 6 with medical conditions like obesity and cancer who are at higher risk if they get CO9ID- , numbering as many as 0 million; and a tier of other essential workers. This group of as many as million includes a wide category of food service and utility workers but also those in legal and financial jobs and the media.

The expert panel’s recommendation next goes to the CDC director and to states as guidance to put together vaccination programs. CDC directors have almost always signed off on committee recommendations. No matter what the CDC says, there will be differences from state to state, because various health departments have different ideas about who should be closer to the front of the line.

Federal officials expect that vaccine doses will be limited for several months. CDC officials say up to 20 million are projected to start getting shots this month, another 0 million next month, and 0 million in February. That’s 00 million out of a population of more than 0 million.

Pfizer’s shots were first shipped out a week ago and started being used the next day, kicking off the nation’s biggest vaccination drive.

Public health experts say the shots — and others in the pipeline — are the only way to stop a virus that has been spreading wildly. Nationwide, more than 2 ,000 people per day on average test positive for the virus, which has killed over 6,000 in the 8.S. and nearly . million worldwide.

Earlier Sunday, trucks left the Olive Branch, 0ississippi, factory, near 0emphis, Tennessee, with the vaccine developed by 0oderna and the National Institutes of Health. The much-needed shots are expected to be given starting 0onday, just three days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized their emergency rollout.

In ouisville, .entucky, 8PS driver Todd Elble said his vaccine shipment was the “most important load that I’ve hauled” in a -year career. His parents contracted CO9ID- in November, and his -year-old father died. He said the family speculates that his father got infected while traveling on a hunting trip with four other relatives to :yoming, and some are still sick.

“I’m going to take the vaccine myself. I’m going to be first in line for my father — I’ll tell you that much — and any others that should follow,” he said. “I feel in my heart that everybody should, to help get this stopped.”

He added: “To bring this back, I feel Dad was in the truck with me today.”