The next wave of coronavirus vaccine recipients is likely to be impacted by corporate and union lobbyists, as companies seek to get their workers atop the U.S. government priority lists.
From Amazon to Uber, companies will argue their employees are essential in order to get their workforces vaccinated and keep business rolling.
Frontline healthcare workers and elderly in nursing homes and assisted-living centers were at the top of the list, but a next wave will be determined Sunday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory group vote, according to The Washington Post.
"It almost feels like a wrestling match out there, where many interests want to make it clear that the people they represent have a lot of essential workers," Contigo Health Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Slotkin told the Post.
Ultimately, states have domain over the priority of their allotments, so police, firefighters, public transit, and teachers have a case in many states to be the next in line for the vaccines that have been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration.
That includes the two-shot programs of Pfizer and Moderna, which are already shipping out to states through the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed.
"Our view is that our essential workers and those that work outside the house for us at fulfillment centers and Whole Foods stores and as delivery drivers are all part of that essential supply chain that helps tens of millions of other people stay home," Amazon VP of Public Policy Steve Hartell told the Post.
Independent Drivers Guild, a ride-share drivers union organized by Aziz Bah, wants in on the vaccine.
"We are actually the front line to those front-line people because they rely on us to get to work," he told the Post.
Also in the mix of lobbying for priority are grocery stores, food production, delivery workers, and anyone who was kept open and deemed essential even during the most restrictive of global coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, the Post reported.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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