Vaccine priorities skewed

The prioritization list for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine makes no sense to me. Perhaps someone out there can clarify to help me understand.

According to the CDC, 32% of COVID-19 deaths are from people aged 85+, 27% between the ages of 75-84, 21% between the ages 65-74, and 12% between the ages 55-64. In other words, 92.4% of COVID-19 deaths are in people 55 years old or older.

Why then are health care workers and prison inmates being vaccinated before people in these age groups? If the people in these age groups were vaccinated, then we wouldn’t need the health care workers. If we vaccinate the health care workers and the prison inmates first, then these people over 55 will still get COVID-19, many will be hospitalized, and many will die.

My parents are both over 80 years old, my mother has diabetes, and my father has Parkinson’s disease. Please explain to me why some 20-something-year-old, otherwise healthy individual should get the vaccine before my parents just because they work for a hospital or are incarcerated in a prison?

Randahl D. Roadifer

Cheney