Financial services industry employers, including bankers, should receive COVID-19 vaccines in the third wave of distribution, according to a recent recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted Dec. 20 to recommend financial services be included with other essential workers in phase 1c of distribution. This category also includes those 65-74 and younger people with underlying conditions as well as essential workers in transportation & logistics, food service, construction, IT/communications, media, energy, legal, public safety and water & sewer. Other categories are:
- Phase 1a: Frontline healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents
- Phase 1b: Those 75 and older and non-health care frontline essential workers (first responders, education, food & agriculture, manufacturing, corrections, postal, public transit and grocery store workers)
- Phase 2: All those 16 and older not included in previous categories
It is up to each state government to decide its own prioritization for vaccines based on CDC guidelines.