Healthcare works and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, a U.S. federal government advisory panel said on Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices supported the recommendations in a 13-1 vote. The recommendations are not binding, but they have determined the scope and funding of U.S. vaccination programs and can help guide state-level authority's decisions on vacation rollout.

Further detailed decisions need to be discussed, for example, whether to classify the priority between healthcare workers if the vaccine supply is low.

Panel member Dr. Beth Bell of the University of Washington highlighted that on average, one person is dying of COVID-19 per minute in the U.S. right now.

About three million people are living in nursing homes, long-term chronic care hospitals and other U.S. long-term care facilities. Those patients and the staff members who care for them have accounted for six percent of the country's COVID-19 cases and 39 percent of its deaths, U.S. CDC officials say.

The coronavirus in the U.S. has claimed 270,532 lives and caused 13,715,635 confirmed infections, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, with deaths, hospitalizations and cases rocketing in recent weeks.

Brazil's Health Ministry also announced a similar four-stage preliminary plan for national immunization on Tuesday, saying the country will prioritize the vaccination of indigenous people, health workers and those aged 75 years and older in the battle against the coronavirus.

People between 60 and 74 years old are in the second stage, and those with prior health conditions, for example, heart and kidney disease would be covered in a third stage, the ministry said.

The fourth stage, before opening to the wider population, would include teachers, security personnel, and first responders, along with prison staff and inmates, said the ministry, emphasizing that the plan would be finalized once it was clear what vaccines were available.

Those first four stages are expected to cover 109.5 million people out of Brazil's total population of 212 million.

According to Johns Hopkins, Brazil has registered 6,386,787 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, with 173,817 deaths – the world's third-biggest outbreak following the United States and India.

(With input from AP and Reuters)