Gov. DeWine: All Ohioans eligible for vaccine March 29

Max Garrison
Wed, 17 Mar 2021 01:44:47 +0000
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In an announcement while visiting the federal mass COVID-19 vaccination site in Cleveland Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dewine announced all Ohioans 16 and older will be eligible for vaccination beginning March 29. Credit: David Petkiewicz via TNS

Every Ohioan will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine before the first of April.

Gov. Mike Dewine announced Tuesday the next stages of eligibility in the state, including all individuals at least 40 years old and those under 40 who have one of five medical conditions starting Friday. Starting March 29, that eligibility will be expanded to everyone at least 16 years old.

The five medical conditions that make an individual eligible starting Friday are cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and obesity. Speaking at a mass vaccination site in Cleveland, DeWine said this will add approximately 766,000 Ohioans as part of phase 1E. The addition of all Ohioans at least 40 years old will make approximately 818,000 more people eligible to receive the vaccine as part of phase 2C.

Starting March 29, every Ohioan older than 16 years old can start getting vaccinated under phase 2D. Individuals 16 and 17 years old are only authorized to receive the Pfizer vaccine under FDA guidelines. Moderna announced Tuesday it began administering its two-dose vaccine to children between 6 months old and 12 years old as part of a study.

President Joe Biden announced March 11 he would instruct to open eligibility to all Americans by May 1. DeWine’s announcement places Ohio a full month ahead of that goal.

DeWine also announced at the press conference Ohio is receiving about 400,000 new vaccine doses this week and expects a similar amount next week. He said the federal government and Biden administration have given “every indication” the state will be allocated a “significant increase” in doses the week of March 29, when full eligibility opens.

Currently, all individuals older than 50, many long-term care residents, pregnant people, those with Types 1 and 2 diabetes; ALS; end-stage kidney disease, severe heart defects; rare, inherited metabolic disorders; epilepsy with continuing seizures; severe genetic disorders; severe asthma with hospitalization in the past year; and those who have received solid organ and bone marrow transplants are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

People with certain occupations are also eligible, including K-12 school employees, health care workers, first responders and more.

The Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State has a vaccine administration operation in place at the Schottenstein Center on the university’s Columbus campus. Ohio State students and medical center patients can sign up to receive doses of the vaccine on the MyChart app and website once appointments for their eligibility window opens. St. John Arena at Ohio State also serves as a pop-up mass vaccination site.

This story was updated at 6:58 p.m. with information on previously eligible categories, Ohio supply expectations and the St. John Arena pop-up vaccination site.