Vaccine experts advising the UK Government have published a detailed list of who should get offered the Covid-19 jab first.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said care home residents were among those who should be given the jab first.
The committee examined data on who suffers the worst outcomes from coronavirus and who is at highest risk of death.
It published interim guidance earlier in the year, but this has now been amended slightly.
In the new guidance, those who are deemed to be "clinically extremely vulnerable" have moved higher up the priority list.
The priority list for "phase one" of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is:
- Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
- All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
- All those 75 years of age and over
- All those 70 years of age and over and people deemed to be clinically extremely vulnerable.
- All those 65 years of age and over
- All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
- All those 60 years of age and over
- All those 55 years of age and over
- All those 50 years of age and over
Professor Wei Shen Lim, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, set out the thinking behind the priority list drawn up by the body.
He told a Downing Street briefing: "Prioritisation was based on the risk of dying from Covid-19 and, in order to protect the most vulnerable, we have prioritised the most vulnerable individuals first.
"The other element is protection of the NHS and the health and social care system, because by protecting the NHS we also protect lives.
"Then comes those 75 years above, followed by those 70 years of age and above, alongside people who are clinically extremely vulnerable because of specific health conditions".
He also said the banding system would continue with people aged 16 to 64 years with underlying health conditions that also put them at risk.
"The prioritisation order then continues down the age groups, until those aged 50 years and above are included."
And Professor Wei Shen Lim also hoped that in the first phase of the vaccine programme 99% of the most clinically vulnerable would be covered.
