CDC panel says adults over 75, essential workers should be next in line for vaccine
Americans 75 and older along with roughly 30 million "frontline essential workers" should be next in line to get coronavirus vaccinations, a group of experts that make recommendations to the CDC voted on Sunday, per the New York Times.
Why it matters: Adults over 75 are eight times more likely to be hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus. Essential workers are at an elevated risk for COVID-19 infections and are disproportionately people of color, who face higher mortality rates from the coronavirus than white people.
Driving the news: Health care workers were the first to receive inoculations of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine last week.
By the numbers: Adults 75 years and older account for 25% of all U.S. hospitalizations associated with the coronavirus as of Dec. 5, per the CDC panel.