Some States Buck Federal Vaccine Recommendations and Prioritize Seniors Over Essential Workers

The Washington Post reports that Florida, Texas, and other mostly Republican-led states have diverged from federal guidelines for second-tier COVID-19 vaccine distribution by making seniors first in line for inoculations rather than essential workers. Federal recommendations prioritize vaccines for grocery store employees, transit staffers, and other frontline workers, along with people 75 and older. The diverging states' prioritization reflects a patchwork distribution system that could undermine national containment of the pandemic, worsened as states face delays in the rollout of inoculations. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said fewer than 20 percent of the 11.5 million shots distributed by the federal government had been administered by the start of this week. Meanwhile, advisers to President-elect Joe Biden are urging more federal coordination. In justifying Florida's policy, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, "As we get into the general community, the vaccines are going to be targeted where the risk is the greatest, and that is in our senior population." The CDC estimated that 80.7 percent of deaths from COVID-19 have been among people 65 and older nationally, while people in frontline jobs who cannot work from home or keep a safe distance from others are at highest risk of work-related contagion.