Vaccine eligibility in California is extended to ages 16-64 with underlying health conditions

California is expanding the list of people who are eligible for the coronavirus vaccine by an additional 4 to 6 million people.

State Health Director Dr. Mark Ghaly said on Friday that starting March 15, people between the ages of 16-64 who are severely disabled, and those with health problems that put them at high risk, can queue for shots.

Among those included are people with certain cancer, heart, lung, and kidney conditions, as well as pregnant women, people with Down syndrome, organ transplant recipients, and severely obese.

California is plagued with vaccine shortages, and Ghaly acknowledged he isn’t sure how long it will take for the federal supply of shots to meet demand.

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The state memo states that health care providers can use their judgment “to vaccinate individuals ages 16-64 who are believed to be at highest risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 as a direct result of” a range of different medical conditions.

This represents a significant expansion of the state’s population eligible for vaccination. Currently, eligibility is limited to people aged 65 and over, health professionals and residents and staff of long-term nursing facilities.

It comes at a time when the supply of vaccines across the state is very limited. In Los Angeles County, for example, next week, most vaccination sites will be limited to providing second doses and not first doses of vaccine.

Los Angeles County receives an average of about 200,000 doses of vaccine per week, which is much less than the capacity of the county’s various locations to vaccinate 600,000 per week, county’s health officials say.

If the vaccine qualifies without additional supply, officials say it will be much more difficult to keep up with demand.

“We will definitely need more vaccines,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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