I don't understand why people think essential workers should get vaccinated ahead of the elderly. If infected, an 85 year-old has a ~1,500x greater chance of dying compared to a 30 year-old essential worker. Using life expectancy, we're still talking about 187.5x years of life (for males).
The strategy would make sense only in a country with few cases, right? If you vaccinate essential workers in such a country, the country's relatively low community spread would be that much lower. No one gets it. No one dies from it.