Amid the gloom over the COVID-19 pandemic, hopes rose after US biotech company Moderna announced on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine showed 94.5% effectiveness. Last week, another American company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced their coronavirus vaccine is over 90% effective.

Although it’s still time before the vaccines will be used to inoculate the general public, these are the priority groups identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be administered the shots first:

Healthcare workers: By vaccinating nearly 20 million doctors, nurses, lab technicians and other health care providers in the US will not only help protect the front-line health workers but also the patients they care for.

Essential workers: There are several workers who cannot work remotely and need to work among the public. These include those in the police, civic workers, transport workers, security staff etc. Inoculating them for COVID-19 will not only protect these workers, but it’ll also reduce interruptions in critical services.

Those with underlying medical conditions: Such patients with underlying health conditions are at a greater risk for illness due to the novel coronavirus. Early vaccine access is critical to ensuring the health and safety of this population that is disproportionately affected by COVID-19, CDC has said.

Older adults: Risk for severe illness or death from COVID-19 rises with age. Early vaccine access is critical to help protect this population that is disproportionately affected by COVID-19, the CDC has said.