DENVER- Today, Governor Jared Polis provided an update on Colorado’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the State’s efforts to vaccinate Coloradans.
“We did it Colorado, we hit our state’s bold goal of vaccinating 70% of Coloradans aged 70 and up by the end of February. This is an important milestone for our state and has taken all of us - in every corner of our state - working together to get shots into the arms of some of our most vulnerable Coloradans,” said Governor Polis. “We’ve also made critical strides in vaccinating educators, Coloradans 65+, health care workers and first responders and the lifesaving vaccine is being made more available to more Coloradans as we await additional federal supplies.”
Later this week the state of Colorado will start getting shots into the arms of grocery store and agriculture workers, Coloradans aged 16-59 with two and more comorbidities, and those aged 60 and up, among others who qualify for the vaccine in Phase 1B.3.
Governor Polis also announced that yesterday Colorado placed its first order for the newly FDA-approved one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Colorado expects to receive 45,500 doses this week, which will be administered across the state. Additional doses of the J&J vaccine are not expected next week, but Colorado is planning for an increase in J&J doses starting in late March. The Biden Administration expects 5-6 million doses of the J&J vaccine to be distributed by the Spring.
Governor Polis shared an update regarding the overall federal vaccine supply. The national supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is increasing by 700,000 doses from 14.5 million this week to 15.2 million next week. This should mean an increase of over 11,500 doses for Colorado for about 256,880 doses next week. In mid-March, Colorado’s supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is expected to increase further to 16 million doses, meaning an increase of another 800,000. This should result in an additional 13,520 doses/week for Colorado for a total of about 270,400 doses the week of March 21. By the end of March, it's expected that nationally there will be 4 million doses weekly of the J&J vaccine. For Colorado, that equals roughly 67,000 J&J doses and that level should be the minimum moving forward week after week there forward.
By the last week of March, Colorado anticipates approximately another million dose increase to 18 million doses which represents about 16,900 additional doses for Colorado. While these numbers represent the most up-to-date federal vaccine forecast, these numbers are subject to change.
Governor Polis also reminded Coloradans to continue practicing what has kept COVID-19 case numbers low, which include social distancing, staying six feet apart from others, and mask wearing.
View today’s press conference.
For more information on how to sign up to receive the vaccine, please visit www.cocovidvaccine.org or call 1-877-CO VAX CO (1-877-268-2926).