The nationwide rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines has focused largely on the front-line doctors and nurses, and for good reason, given their close proximity to patients battling the potentially deadly illness. But the recommendations for vaccination priorities from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also acknowledge the risks facing other key employees in healthcare facilities.

Foodservice employees, including those in restaurants, have been prioritized as “other essential workers” and included in the CDC’s recommendation for early COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Food Management. While not providing a timeline for when foodservice workers could get the coronavirus vaccinations, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended they be included in round 1c of vaccine distribution.

Residents of long-term care facilities and healthcare workers are in round 1a, and people 75 and older and frontline essential workers are in round 1b. Those 1b frontline essential workers, according to the CDC, total about 30 million people and the 1c other essential workers, which include foodservice employees, total about 57 million.

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