The state expects to have 1.5 million doses by April 10.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kris Romijin will receive his Covid-19 vaccination from MacKenzie Heffernan, at the Mountain America Expo site in Sandy on Monday, March 8, 2021.
In response to the impending end of the state’s mask mandate on April 10, Governor Spencer Cox said he expects COVID-19 vaccines to be available to every adult in Utah by April 1.
“Once it became clear that the legislature intended to end the mask mandate immediately, and by a veto-resistant majority,” said Cox spokeswoman Jennifer Napier-Pearce, “our government worked with them to push back the date in order to do so. get as many people vaccinated as possible. “
She went on to say, “We expect every adult in the state to be eligible for a vaccine by April 1, and by April 10, we will likely have 1.5 million doses in the state.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox takes off his mask while maintaining media availability at the Salt Lake City Capitol on Friday, March 5, 2021, during the final day of the 2021 Utah Legislature General Session.
The announcement echoes what Cox said in an appearance on Fox News on Friday: “We expect that by April 1, every adult in the state of Utah will be eligible for the vaccine,” the governor said, adding that he expected Utah “to be approximately. 1.5 million vaccines in the state by April 10, when that mandate expires. ”
Although the statewide mask mandate expires April 10, Napier-Pearce pointed out that it will continue in schools and for major gatherings after that date.
“Businesses may also still need masks,” she said. “And of course any individual can choose to wear a mask.”
Matt Caputo, the CEO of Caputo’s Deli, said the mask mandate reduced tensions with some customers in his company in a video he posted on social media. He urged the governor to veto the bill ending the mask mandate on April 10, though lawmakers could then vote to override that veto.
“Before the statewide mask mandate was introduced by Gov. Herbert, our crew had to deal with vitriol and negativity several times a day – like, really crazy people -” he said in the video. “It became the most difficult part of the pandemic. And it was really exhausting and it burned a lot of people. “
He said it is outrageous to end the mask mandate on April 10 “before our vital workers can be fully vaccinated.”
Caputo expressed skepticism that the vaccine will be available to every adult from April 1 and wondered how many people could be ‘fully vaccinated’ by April 10 (Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses a few weeks apart) .
He urged Cox to veto the bill to give workers “a chance to be fully vaccinated. They worked on this every day. They are exhausted. They are tired. And many of them are scared. “