Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday that the state will soon announce more changes to its priority list for the coronavirus vaccine, with people between the ages of 65 and 69 and possibly others being moved up.
The changes are in response to expected new guidance from the federal government, which will also reportedly recommend giving greater priority to adults of any age with serious underlying medical conditions.
At a Tuesday news conference, Polis said the state will “of course” adopt the forthcoming federal guidance. He said the state will soon release a new priority list, with those ages 65 to 69 becoming eligible in a couple weeks to receive the vaccine.
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But Polis also said the state doesn’t want the new group to leapfrog ahead of seniors age 70 and over.
“We do want to prioritize those who are most vulnerable.” Polis said. “And there is a difference between a 60-year-old, a 70-year-old, an 80-year-old. … We don’t want to squeeze out an 82-year-old for a 66-year-old.”
The changes could further top-load the state’s priority structure. Almost every place in Colorado has finished vaccinating their high-priority health care workers — designated Phase 1a in the state’s current plan — and moved onto the next group, Phase 1b.
Phase 1b — which contains an estimated 1.3 million people — is currently split into two halves. The top half of Phase 1b includes first responders and all adults over 70 years old. The bottom half includes frontline essential workers such as teachers and grocery employees.
People ages 60 to 69 and adults of any age with underlying medical conditions are currently included in Phase 2 of the state’s plan, which is scheduled to start in spring.
According to estimates from the State Demography Office, there are approximately 288,000 people in Colorado ages 65 to 69. It is unclear how many Coloradans would be considered to have underlying medical conditions that qualify them for higher priority, but an earlier draft of the state’s vaccination plan suggests it could be as many as 1.5 million people.
Polis did not answer a question about whether the new priority structure will bump teachers and other essential workers further down the list.
Federal officials are also reportedly poised to announce that they will begin delivering all available doses of vaccine to the states, rather than hold some back to cover the necessary booster shots needed for the current vaccines, made by Pfizer and Moderna. The federal government intends to rely on increases in production to make sure enough doses are produced on time for the booster shots.
Polis has said he would welcome that change, and Colorado hospital leaders said they are ramping up their ability to deliver the vaccine.
“The limiting factor right now is the supply of vaccines coming into the system,” said Peter Banko, the president and CEO of Centura Health, which expects to be able to vaccinate more than 22,000 people per week by the end of February.
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