Survey: Health Workers, Kids, Older Adults Should Get COVID-19 Vaccine First

A survey of 1,007 U.S. adults published in JAMA Network Open said front-line healthcare workers, children, and older adults should receive priority if or when a COVID-19 vaccine is available, reports United Press International . Ninety-two percent of respondents felt front-line doctors treating patients infected with the virus should be vaccinated first, while 81 percent said younger people and seniors need to be at or near the head of the list. "Our findings demonstrate that Americans do perceive that high risk of death is an important criterion for vaccine allocation," explained University of Minnesota Professor Sarah Gollust. Other groups respondents categorized as warranting priority for available vaccines included "middle-aged" adults at high risk (75 percent) and non-medical "essential" workers (72 percent), while 64 percent of respondents said pregnant women also should be assigned priority. "In the survey, we told all respondents that 'at least at first, there may not be enough to go around,' so all respondents who answered the survey would have read this, but we can't assess from this study whether they were already aware of this idea, though.," Gollust noted.