Uber is making an appeal to health officials that its drivers are considered essential and should get priority access to the coronavirus vaccine.
The company sent letters to governors this week urging them to prioritize drivers in their vaccine distribution plans.
Phase 1A will encompass healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities, a category that includes many millions of Americans. Many states are still working to determine who will get the vaccine after that.
"Essential workers are in ‘1B’ and they include transportation workers and food workers, so in a sense Uber workers are already there," said UC Hastings law professor Dorit Reiss, an expert in health policy and vaccines.
But she said that the letters could be effective in bringing an added degree of attention to Uber drivers as a category. "There’s going to be so many essential workers that there’s going to have to be priorities made within that group."
Phase 1B is also likely to include teachers and law enforcement.
Professor Reiss said correctional officers were able to successfully lobby their members into an early spot in line.
"Governors and political actors naturally have a role in guiding those departments, and they might be inclined to think that the people who speak up have a stronger need," she said.
Reiss said that regardless of what states plan to do, without proper federal support, expect them to run into challenges.
"They haven’t received anywhere near enough funding so the infrastructure for distribution and allocation is limited."
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