With front-line health staff and nursing home residents expected to get the initial doses of Covid vaccines, the more difficult question is thinking about who goes next. The result will likely depend on where you reside. While a powerful federal advisory board is expected to make its proposals later this month, state health departments and governors will make the call on who receives access to a bounded number of vaccines this winter. As a result, it’s been a free-for-all in recent weeks as entrepreneurs, grocers, bank workers, dentists, and drive-share firms all jostle to get a place near the front of the line. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 13 to 1 this month to give first Covid-19 vaccination priority to doctors and nurses and residents of long-term care facilities once the US Food and Drug Administration acknowledges one or more Covid-19 vaccines for emergency purposes.

Moreover, the advisory committee is deemed to present more information about its list of prioritized beneficiaries before year’s end. Its next instructions are likely to concentrate on prioritizing people who keep society working, such as workers in food and agriculture, public safety, and education. Older people and those with incurable illnesses are also counted high on the list.