Dec. 22 (UPI) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday further detailed its recommendations for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, reaffirming that healthcare workers and older adults should receive priority.
“Phase 1a” of the process should see healthcare personnel, specifically those who potentially have direct exposure to infected persons, offered COVID-19 vaccines first. So should residents of long-term care facilities, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said.
In “Phase 1b,” vaccines should be offered to persons aged 75 years and older, while in “Phase 1c,” adults 65 to 74 years old, as well as those 16 to 64 with “high-risk medical conditions” — including diabetes and heart disease — should be offered vaccine. So should other “essential workers,” the committee said.
All those 16 to 64 years old who were not offered the vaccine during Phase 1 would have the opportunity during Phase 2, the CDC said.
The recommendations were published Tuesday as part of the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“These recommendations for phased allocation provide guidance for federal, state and local jurisdictions while vaccine supply is limited,” agency officials wrote in the report.
Phase 1a would see 24 million people across the United States offered the vaccine, while Phase 1b would add 49 million, according to the agency.
Roughly 140 million doses would be distributed during Phase 1c, the CDC said.
The report and recommendations provided no timelines for when the vaccine doses would be made available, nor the number of doses that would be available during Phase 2.
Officials have said that most people in the United States should have access to the vaccine by the end of 2021.
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