The Colorado Restaurant Association fired off a letter to Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday night after an updated prioritization list for vaccines was released earlier in the day showing that restaurant workers, who make up 10% of the Colorado workforce, appear nowhere on that list.

The industry letter, obtained by Colorado Politics, pleaded with Polis to give priority access to vaccines to front-line restaurant and food service workers, once the needs of healthcare workers, first responders and at-risk populations are met. 

Related: Gov. Jared Polis, state officials talk about new COVID-19 variant, vaccination progress

“It appears as if restaurant workers at not explicitly included in Phase 1B of the vaccination distribution plan,” wrote Sonia Riggs, the association’s president and CEO. If this is true, “we implore you to reconsider! Restaurant workers should be classified in the same category as grocery store workers as they directly interact with the public and provide much needed access to food.

“According to [the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment], restaurants may be a safer way for the high-risk population to access the food they need, especially when you look at take-out or delivery. Therefore, it is imperative that these workers have access to the vaccine at the same time as workers in grocery stores do.

“Separating them would be arbitrarily discriminating against an essential industry, one that employs large numbers of women and minority workers.”

Chris Fusilier, a CRA board member and owner of Blake Street Tavern, calls the omission horrible. “Restaurant workers should not be treated any differently than grocery store workers. Both deal with retail food.” He noted that in other states, both groups are in the same phases for vaccines. 

“It should be that way in Colorado,” he said. “We need to look at the impact on jobs and on possible exposure in different occupations,” pointing out that restaurant workers are among the most vulnerable as they serve customers who aren’t wearing masks when they are seated at a table. 

Polis spokeswoman Victoria Graham told Colorado Politics that “we are focused on how we save the most lives and end the crisis as quickly as possible. We do that by prioritizing vulnerable populations and essential workers. Colorado’s prioritization is largely harmonizing with the CDC recommendations that prioritized the core functions for society.”

A CDPHE spokesperson told Colorado Politics Wednesday evening that “Phase 1B includes those in food manufacturing and supply; it does not include restaurant workers. To save lives until the vaccine becomes widely available, we have prioritized health care providers with direct contact with COVID-19 patients, as well as Coloradans who are most at risk for getting severely sick or even dying of COVID-19. The phased process is designed to have the greatest impact for all Coloradans as quickly as possible.”

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that restaurant workers be vaccinated after the elderly and essential workers such as police officers and teachers. Were Colorado to follow CDC guidelines, restaurant workers would be vaccinated ahead of those with chronic health conditions or those between ages of 16 and 70, an in-between phase that would follow Phase 1B but before Phase 2, which is slated for early spring.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has classified all workers who are part of the 2.1 million farms, 935,000 restaurants and more than 200,000 registered food manufacturing, processing and storage facilities as essential. 

California has decided restaurant workers will be vaccinated at the same time as other essential employees, such as those who work in grocery stores, teachers and first responders. A panel of medical experts put restaurant workers in the same category as “food and agriculture.”

The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission recently decided that restaurant owners and other employers could make the COVID-19 vaccine a condition of employment.

Colorado Restaurant Association letter to Gov. Jared Polis regarding vaccinations for restaurant and food service workers.

The priority list also left off another group: those in the custody of jails and state prisons. Corrections workers are listed in Phase 1B, which is set to start receiving vaccines on Thursday, but inmates are nowhere to be found on the latest priority list.

Earlier this month, Polis said he would not prioritize vaccinating inmates ahead of non-incarcerated Coloradans. The state’s original vaccination plan, released in October, said that prisoners, college students who live in dorms and those who are homeless and living in shelters would be vaccinated in Phase 1B, at the same time as essential workers who are due to start getting vaccinated this week.

CNBC reported that prison inmates are four times as likely to become infected as the general population. But as of mid-December, the CDC has yet to decide when prisoners should be vaccinated. 

The American Medical Society, however, has recommended that inmates be inoculated in the same phase as essential workers such as corrections personnel. 

Colorado’s prisons and jails have suffered among the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 among congregate housing facilities. As of Dec. 23, outbreaks have been reported at more than two dozen correctional facilities and a dozen jails.

A total of 24 prisoners have died from COVID in Colorado prisons, up from 11 at the beginning of December. The CDPHE’s Dec. 30 report shows 10,272 active cases for inmates in jails, correction facilities and state prisons and another 1,538 staff infections. 

Related: COVID-19 deaths among Colorado prisoners more than double in December

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has filed multiple lawsuits, including class-action lawsuits, against the state over how the state is treating inmates during the pandemic, including over the vaccine issue. The ACLU did not respond to a request for comment.