Food and agriculture workers are among the 30 million frontline essential workers who should be next in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, a CDC work group recommended on Sunday. According to NPR, the advisory group’s recommendations are expected to be accepted by CDC Director Robert Redfield and shared as official guidance later this week.
The work group was tasked with proposing the vaccination priority order. Phase 1a, in which the vaccine became available to high-risk healthcare workers and older adults living in congregate settings, is already in progress.
Workers in the food and agriculture, grocery store, and manufacturing industries have been designated as frontline essential workers, who are set to be vaccinated in Phase 1b. Following that will be other essential workers, including foodservice employees.
Source: CDC
The announcement has been positively received by the industry, which has been the source of numerous COVID-19 hotspots since the beginning of the pandemic.
View the CDC work group’s full recommendations.
