US asked to prioritise frontline essential workers

AN advisory panel on Sunday recommended US frontline essential workers and people 75 and older should be next in line to get inoculated as the distribution of Moderna Inc’s vaccine, the second approved coronavirus vaccine, began across the country.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13 to one to recommend 30 million frontline essential workers, which include first responders, teachers, food and agriculture, manufacturing, US Postal Service, public transit, and grocery store workers, have the next priority for the vaccines.

In all, the move would make 51 million people eligible to get inoculated in the next round. It was not immediately clear when the next round would begin.

About 200 million people including non-frontline workers such as those in media, finance, energy and IT and communication industries, persons in the 6574 age group, and those aged 16-64 years with high-risk conditions should be in the ensuing round, the panel recommended.

States, which are the ones distributing shots to their residents, will use the advisory panel’s guidelines to decide on how to allocate the vaccines while supplies are scarce.

Inoculation against the disease is key to safely reopening large parts of the economy and reducing the risks of illness at crowded meatpacking plants, factories and warehouses.

However, confusion has broken out over who exactly is considered essential during a pandemic.