Here’s Who Experts Say Should Be Next In Line To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine

A panel advising the CDC recommended next prioritizing people age 75 and older along with essential frontline workers, including firefighters, teachers, grocery store workers, manufacturing workers.

A teacher collects her students math racks after finishing a lesson with her first grade class at Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School in Fall River, MA on Nov. 23, 2020. | Getty Images
A teacher collects her students math racks after finishing a lesson with her first grade class at Mary L. Fonseca Elementary School in Fall River, MA on Nov. 23, 2020. | Getty Images

As COVID-19 cases and deaths are rising sharply across the United States ahead of the holidays, a new group of people including adults 75 and over as well as “frontline essential workers” such as emergency responders, teachers and grocery store employees could be to next receive a COVID-19 vaccine. 

A panel advising the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) voted 13-to-1 Sunday on the recommendations for the “1b” category to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), defines essential frontline workers as firefighters, teachers, grocery store workers, manufacturing workers, public transport workers, and postal service employees, among others. 

The recommendation follows the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization of a second COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Moderna, on December 18. In recent days, health care workers across the U.S. have shared messages of hope after they began to receive doses of the Pfizer vaccine, the first to receive FDA approval on December 11. Those who were in the “1a” category, or the first wave of vaccine recipients, include health care personnel and long-term care facility residents.

The CDC expects that there should be enough doses available to vaccinate 20 million people in December, 30 million people in January, and 50 million people in February.

On Monday, President-Elect Joe Biden also publicly received a COVID-19 vaccine, one week after the first doses were administered. The nation’s leading infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci had advised last week that Biden as well as President Donald Trump receive the vaccine. Trump, who had COVID-19 this fall, reportedly “is discussing with his doctors the timing for taking the vaccine” (Vice President Mike Pence was publicly inoculated on Friday). Biden, as well as several ex-presidents across both party lines, committed to receiving the vaccine in public to help build Americans’ trust in science.

What else should we know about vaccine priority?

The panel advising the CDC said it balanced two main goals when deciding who should be eligible for the next wave of vaccines — preventing death and disease and preserving societal function.

“I voted for this recommendation because in my opinion, it follows the evidence about the risk from coronavirus and the ethical principles that we have developed on ACIP to maximize the benefits and minimize harms, promote justice, and to minimize health inequities,” UCLA pediatrician and ACIP member Peter Szilagyi, said of the decision.

After the 1a and 1b groups are vaccinated, the panel recommended that Americans between the ages of 65 and 74, people between 16 and 65 years old with underlying health conditions, and essential workers who aren’t considered frontline should be vaccinated.

Though states and local jurisdictions ultimately make the final decisions around the distribution and prioritization of the vaccines, the CDC’s recommendations help inform their decisions.

The panel’s decision Sunday followed an apology by the head of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration effort to distribute coronavirus vaccines, after several states’ voiced frustration regarding the number of vaccines being delivered to them as cases in the country continue to skyrocket.

As of December 21, over 550,000 people in the United States have received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new COVID-19 relief package, which Congress is expected to vote to approve Monday, allocates $8 billion to $9 billion to fund vaccine distribution.

Clarification: A previous version of this story said a panel advising the CDC recommended adults over 75 would be prioritized in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. It has been updated to reflect that the group included adults who are 75 and older.