With Phase One of COVID vaccinations underway to frontline healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents many are wondering who’s next up to get their shots in 2021.
A CDC advisory committee suggests group 1B should cover frontline essential frontline workers and those over 75. Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said they’re reviewing those recommendations and consider whether Louisiana will implement them.
“Without getting ahead too much it is not going to look too different from what the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended,” said Kanter.
Group 1C covers the rest of essential workers and those over 65, plus people with health conditions that can lead to more severe COVID-19 cases.
Those 1C and 1B groups include hundreds of thousands of Louisianans. Kanter said the state’s high rate of residents with comorbid conditions make it likely that we will see a higher percentage of our population in those groups will be higher than the national average.
Governor Edwards said those with end-stage renal disease who receive regular dialysis treatments have already begun receiving the vaccine ahead of their CDC recommended schedule.
Unfortunately, Kanter said we can’t pinpoint an exact date yet for when the state will move out of Phase One vaccinations and into Phase 1B.
“It really is just a factor of how much we receive from the feds. That’s the real X-factor, how much vaccine we get,” said Kanter.
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