Will Construction Workers Be Considered for Early Vaccine Distribution?

Essential workers are potentially second in line for COVID-19 vaccines, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Healthcare workers along with residents and staff of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine. Construction workers have been considered essential in many parts of the country, but the CDC did not specifically name the industry. Instead, the CDC described some essential workers as those in education, food, agriculture, utilities, firefighters, officers, and transportation, says Construction Dive. VP of the Associated General Contractors of America is not worried about construction not specifically being named, as the CDC’s list are “just examples.”

If accepted by Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the CDC, the ACIP’s recommendation would become the agency’s formal guidance to states on how to distribute the first available doses of the vaccine, which could be given as soon as two weeks from now, according to some news reports. 

ACIP’s prioritization of healthcare and long-term care workers and residents, as well as the inclusion of essential workers in Phase 1b in the committee’s slide presentation, closely echoes recommendations made in mid-October by the AGC.  

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