Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 13-1 on Sunday to recommend that both older adults, ages 75 and older, and "frontline essential workers" including first responders be next in line to receive Covid-19 vaccines.
That would put those people in "Phase 1b" of allocating the vaccine nationwide.
That committee vote also included prioritizing adults ages 65 to 75, people ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions and "other essential workers" in "Phase 1c" of allocation.
"They really serve to address the current lack of vaccine supply and address those individuals with the highest risk for disease," Dr. José Romero, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and secretary of the Arkansas Department of Health, said about the recommendations.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met on Sunday to discuss Phases 1b and 1c of vaccine distribution.
In a previous meeting earlier this month, the group voted on Phase 1a, which advised giving the first round of vaccines to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
There are two Covid-19 vaccines -- Pfizer/BioNTech's and Moderna's -- currently authorized for emergency use in the United States.
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