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Scientists and public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will vote on Tuesday to decide who will be the first person to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, once emergency permission is granted.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the allocation of Covid-19 vaccines, according to a document obtained by CNN.
They are expected to decide that healthcare workers will be part of the first group, along with those most at risk, such as residents of nursing homes.
Committee members will discuss who should be in the first group and clinical considerations for the group.
The advisers will also discuss how to monitor safety after vaccine allocation, according to the document.
Several vaccines – including those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna – have shown encouraging efficacy rates in clinical trials.
They are currently awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA meets on December 10.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that delivery of the coronavirus vaccine would begin next week and the following week.
Speaking to US troops overseas via a video link to mark the Thanksgiving Day, Mr Trump said the vaccine would initially be sent to frontline workers, medical personnel and the elderly.
States were made aware of their Pfizer vaccine allocation last week, said Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed - the US government program to distribute and administer any vaccine.
He said individual states had been given an estimate of how much they could expect to receive of the initial 4.1 million doses in the pipeline, for when the green light came.
Training for Pfizer scientists began in Rhode Island, New Mexico, Texas and Tennessee to train state public health officials in handling the vaccine.
Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at extremely cold temperatures, which adds to the complications of the mass vaccination program.
It is hoped that vaccination can begin before Christmas, as the general population is likely to receive their doses around April.
There have been 13 million confirmed cases in the United States and nearly 265,000 deaths.
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