DENVER | Colorado will prioritize people in long-term care facilities and health care workers who treat COVID-19 patients in its distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Jared Polis announced in a Wednesday afternoon news briefing.
Each state is required to come up with a plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to its residents. Colorado has ordered 46,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and expects to be able to order 95,600 doses of the Moderna vaccine in a week, Polis said, the maximum amount of the vaccine that it can order. After that, the state expects to receive regular shipments of the vaccines from the federal government.
The state health department’s incident commander for the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott Bookman, outlined how the state is planning to distribute the vaccine during the briefing.
It has been decided to give the first doses of the vaccine to people who directly interact with COVID-19 patients and the employees and residents of long-term care facilities, which have been hit hard by COVID-19 outbreaks.
After that, healthcare workers who do not directly interact with COVID-19 patients and first responders such as firefighters, police and paramedics will be vaccinated. The state will start vaccinating those groups in the winter, Bookman said.
In the spring, the state will begin vaccinating high-risk individuals and other categories of essential workers. High-risk individuals include people over the age of 65 and those with preexisting conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus.
Essential workers include those who interact directly with the public, Bookman said, including school staff, grocery store workers and people who work in farms or meatpacking facilities. People who received a placebo in a vaccine trial will also be vaccinated in this group.
Finally, Coloradans who are not essential workers and are not at high risk should expect to be vaccinated in the summer, Bookman said.
The state’s primary goals with the vaccine are to save as many lives as possible from COVID-19 and end the pandemic as quickly as possible, Bookman said.
The Pfizer vaccine has a 95% efficacy rate and is taken in two doses 21 days apart. The Moderna vaccine has a 94.5% efficacy rate and is taken in two doses 28 days apart.
The vaccines will be completely free to all Coloradans and available in each county, Bookman said. The state is setting up distribution centers across the state to ensure that the vaccines can be stored properly and distributed before their shelf life expires.
The proposed timeline depends on the state receiving regular shipments of the vaccine from the federal government, Polis said, and he cautioned that there is still “a long road ahead.”
However, hospitalization rates have not risen in Colorado for a week and state officials are hopeful it has reached a plateau, he said.
Polis asked people to finish strong in the time between when Coloradans start receiving the vaccine, and to continue wearing masks, social distancing and limiting gatherings.
“This vaccine is really the gateway to the end of the pandemic,” Polis said. Until then, “let’s double down.”
The vaccines will be held in eight secure facilities across the state, according to Brigadier General Scott Sherman, director of Joint Staff for the Colorado National Guard. They are not releasing the locations, but local law enforcement will know where they are stored and help with security for the facilities, Sherman added.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.