US virus deaths top 3,100 in a single day for the first time - Associated Press

States face a Friday deadline to submit requests for doses of the Pfizer vaccine and specify where they should be shipped, and many appear to be heeding nonbinding guidelines adopted this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to put health care workers and nursing home patients first.

In Nevada, where officials have stressed the importance of bringing tourists back to the Las Vegas Strip, authorities initially put nursing home patients in the third phase, behind police officers, teachers, airport operators and retail workers.

Asa Hutchinson said health care and long-term care facility workers are the top priority, but the state was still refining who would be included in the next phase.

Poultry is a major part of Arkansas’ economy, and nearly 6,000 poultry workers have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began, according to the state Health Department.

The Illinois plan gives highest priority to health care workers but also calls for first responders to be in the first batch to get the shot.

Texas is putting hospital staff, nursing home workers and paramedics at the top of the list, followed by outpatient medical employees, pharmacists, funeral home workers and school nurses.

Likewise, Utah officials said Thursday that frontline health care workers will take top priority, with the five hospitals treating the most COVID-19 patients getting the first doses.

State health officials said that additional doses likely will be available in February and March for more hospital workers, and essential workers — including police officers, firefighters and teachers — also will be prioritized.

Advocates strongly expressed frustration over the way some states are putting medical workers ahead of nursing home residents.

Iowa, which expects to get 172,000 doses over the next month, will make them available first to health care workers and nursing home residents and staff, while an advisory council will recommend who comes next to “minimize health inequities based on poverty, geography” and other factors, state Human Services Director Kelly Garcia said.