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.
