When Louisiana became eligible for the coronavirus vaccines for anyone over the age of 16 from Monday, March 29, it joined a small but growing number of states where anyone who wants an injection can get one.
Alaska was the first state to open to anyone over the age of 16 on March 9, followed by Mississippi a week later.
This week ushered in an open season for vaccines in many other states, well before the May 1 deadline imposed by the Biden administration, when the president said all people over the age of 16 are eligible.
Louisiana is making the vaccine eligible for all residents 16 and older next week as the state receives a record amount of doses, Gov. Jo …
West Virginia opened fitness on Monday and Utah opened on Wednesday. In Arizona, residents of certain state-run vaccination sites in some counties can also receive a vaccine starting Wednesday.
Other states announced opening dates in the coming week. Georgia, Texas and Indiana announced on Tuesday that vaccination would be available for all authorized ages, starting Thursday for Georgia residents, Monday for Texas residents, and March 31 for Indiana residents. North Dakota and Ohio will make the vaccine available to everyone starting March 29.
Several other states have announced they will open on the following dates in April:
April 1: Montana
April 5: Tennessee, Michigan, Connecticut, Nevada, Idaho
April 9: Missouri
April 12: Illinois
April 19: Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
April 27: Maryland
Mid-April: New Mexico
On a sunny, stormy Monday in New Orleans, Tonya Freeman Brown donned a neon yellow vest and started knocking on doors at the Hoffman Triangl …
But many other states still have restrictions based on age, occupation, and medical conditions. In terms of age, New York has recently expanded to include anyone over 50, along with Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Wyoming. The age limit is 65 and above in California, Alabama, North Carolina, and more than a dozen other states.
In any state, people of most ages can qualify if they have certain medical conditions or jobs, although qualifications vary by state.
In Arkansas, people with some of the medical conditions listed as high risk by the Centers for Disease Control can get the vaccine, but not all; smokers and people with Down’s syndrome are not included. In Florida, people of any age can get a vaccine with a doctor’s certificate.
Louisiana has reached another milestone in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic: more than 10,000 people are now suspected of dying from COVID-19.
Since the rollout began, vaccine eligibility has been a patchwork, with a different plan for each state. Whether someone has been able to get vaccinated largely depends on where they live.
Louisiana, a state with high levels of co-morbidity including diabetes, obesity, and cancer, qualified almost everyone in the state after expanding on March 9 to people with a number of medical conditions, including a body-mass index of over 25. Only all that condition qualified nearly three-quarters of the state.
While states are qualifying in the hope that more people will sign up for vaccination, early expansions could be a sign that overall demand in those states is lower, said Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University.
“I think that’s an indication that vaccination burns have fallen a little bit,” Hassig said.
But smaller states also have an easier time with the logistics of inoculating people and smaller elderly populations than larger states.
“With a population of Texas or California, they have a lot more people in those older age groups because their populations are five or ten times larger than ours,” Hassig said.
Suitability for the COVID-19 vaccine is expanding again in Louisiana.
Twenty-three percent of people in Louisiana have received at least one dose and 14% are fully vaccinated, compared to national averages of 25% initiated vaccinations and 14% fully vaccinated.
Emily Woodruff covers public health for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate as a member of the Report For America Corps.