U.S. to expand coronavirus vaccination eligibility

The Trump administration plans to change recommendations on who should get the COVID-19 vaccine to include everyone age 65 and older and younger adults with medical conditions, a major change ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's plans to announce a similar approach later this week.

The guidelines are meant to widen the pool of people who can receive the vaccine.

Most states are still trying to get the vaccine to those in the first phases of the rollout: health care workers, those over age 75 and front-line essential workers, such as firefighters and police officers, as well as teachers, corrections officers, USA postal workers, public transit workers and those whose jobs are essential for the food supply.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the policy shift on Tuesday.

As part of efforts to expand access to Covid vaccines, the federal government will allow makers to release all their available doses instead of reserving booster shots, the United States health secretary said Tuesday.

Azar also said the administration was willing to "deploy teams to help states doing mass vaccination efforts if they wish to do so".

Public health officials are reminding people that the vaccines require two doses, either three weeks apart for the Pfizer version and four weeks apart for the Moderna version.

Of the 25.4 million first doses distributed to states so far, just 8.9 million had been injected into arms, or 35 percent.

It comes as United States rollout of the Covid vaccines has been off to a shaky start.