(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the phases of vaccinating priority groups against COVID-19 could overlap, making the guidelines clear that many states are already applying as a way to shoot as many Americans as possible.
The CDC said health workers and nursing home residents should have a preference for vaccines, followed by people over 75 and essential workers. On Friday, the CDC changed its website to emphasize that these phases may overlap, which in fact gives the green light to what many states are already doing.
Each state has its own plan for distributing vaccines, with little oversight and involvement from the federal government. This week, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the CDC’s preferential recommendations are the same and that it should not get in the way of shooting Americans.
Although the federal government distributed more than 21 million doses, only about 6 million were administered.
A CDC spokesman said the information was previously available on a section of the website that set out the recommendation of the outside advisory panel.
Reporting by Rebecca Spalding; Edited by Kevin Liffey