COLORADO SPRINGS — On Tuesday, Governor Polis shared that Colorado has surpassed its goal of vaccinating 70% of Coloradans age 70 and older; currently, 70.1% of that population has been vaccinated.
This Friday, March 5, vaccinations will open up to those 60 and older. There are not enough vaccines for everyone in an eligibility group to get the vaccine all at once, but the governor encourages those that are eligible to still sign up.
45,500 doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine will arrive this week, and the governor says the plan is to use all of those doses by Sunday. On a call with the White House Polis learned there will be a gap after the first Johnson & Johnson shipment. The next one is not likely until the end of March.
Next week, the national supply from other manufacturers is increasing. It means 11,500 more doses to Colorado, for a total of 256,880 doses to be distributed next week. The governor projects that by mid-March to early April, Coloradans will be receiving 400,000 doses per week, including doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.
"I'm confident that summer will be very close to normal," said Governor Polis. "With these vaccine predictions we have today, we are very hopeful."
This follows his press conference last Friday where the governor announced starting March 5, Coloradans who fall in Phase 1B.3 of the vaccine roll-out will become eligible to get a vaccine. He also gave an update to the COVID-19 vaccine prioritization lists. Phase 1B.3 will include the following individuals:
- Agricultural processing workers (Meat packing)
- Grocery workers
- Coloradans 60 years and older
- Coloradans 16-59 with two or more pre-existing conditions
Additionally, the governor said Phase 1B.4 will go into effect by the end of March.
There will be an update next week on what date Phase 1B.4 will start. The governor said he estimates it will be around March 21st give or take a few days.
Phase 1B.4 Prioritization List:
- People ages 50 and older
- Student-facing higher education faculty and staff
- Frontline essential workers in food/restaurant services
- Frontline essential workers in manufacturing
- Frontline essential workers for the U.S. Postal Service
- Frontline essential workers in public transit
- Frontline essential workers in public health
- Frontline essential human service workers
- Faith leaders
- Frontline essential direct care providers for people experiencing homelessness
- Frontline essential journalists
- Continuity of local government
- Continuation of operations for state government
- Adults who received a placebo during COVID-19 vaccine trials
- People age 16-49 with one high risk condition
The governor's office estimates there are more than 2.5 million Coloradans in the Phase 1B.4 group.
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