KEY POINTS
  • Essential federal workers would be among the first group of Americans to get the Covid-19 vaccine after health workers, according to the CDC's interim plans.
  • The timing depends heavily on how fast the Food and Drug Administration can clear the vaccine for emergency use.
  • Pfizer, which developed its vaccine with German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, said they are submitting their application some time Friday and Moderna is expected to soon follow suit.

Five federal agencies have started telling employees they could receive Pfizer or Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine in as little as eight weeks as the U.S. prepares to distribute the potentially life-saving doses across the country, according to a person with first-hand knowledge of the plan.

Essential federal workers would be among the first group of Americans to get inoculated against the coronavirus after the nation's health-care workers, according to the Centers for Disease Control's vaccination program "interim playbook." The plan lists essential workers, along with the elderly and other highly vulnerable groups, in the first phase of its vaccine distribution plan, which hasn't been finalized yet and could change.