When Louisiana opened eligibility for coronavirus vaccines to anyone over the age of 16 on Monday, March 29, it joined a small but growing number of states where anyone who wants a shot 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 saw the start of an open season for vaccines in many other states long before the May 1 deadline set by the Biden administration, when the president said all people over the age of 16 would be eligible.
All Louisians over the age of 16 will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine starting next week, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Wednesday, making …
West Virginia opened eligibility Monday and Utah opened Wednesday. In Arizona, residents of certain state-run vaccination sites in some counties can also get a vaccine starting Wednesday.
Other states have announced opening dates next week. Georgia, Texas and Indiana announced Tuesday that inoculation will be available for all 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 anyone starting March 29.
Several other states have announced they will open in April by the following dates:
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, boring day in New Orleans, Tonya Freeman Brown put on a neon yellow vest and started knocking on doors in the Hoffman Triangl …
But many other states still have restrictions on age, occupation and medical conditions. In terms of age, New York has recently expanded to anyone over the age of 50 along with Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Wyoming. The age limit is over 65 in California, Alabama, North Carolina and over a dozen other states.
In each state, people of all 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 marked by the Centers for Disease Control as being at high risk may receive the vaccine, but not all; smokers and people with Down syndrome are not included. In Florida, people of any age can get a vaccine with a doctor’s note.
Louisiana has reached another milestone in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic: more than 10,000 people are now suspected of dying from COVID-19.
Since its inception, the vaccine eligibility has been a patchwork quilt, with a different plan for each state. Whether a person has managed to get vaccinated depends largely on where they live.
Louisiana, a state with high rates of comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity and cancer, has made almost everyone in the state eligible after the March 9 extension for people with multiple medical conditions, including a body mass index over 25 years . almost three quarters of the state.
As states open up eligibility in the hope that more people will sign up for vaccination, early expansion may be a sign that overall demand is lower in these states, said Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University.
“I think this is an indication that the vaccination rate has dropped a little,” Hassig said.
But smaller states also have an easier time with the inoculation logistics of smaller people and older populations than larger states.
“With a population the size of Texas or California, they have a lot more people in those age groups because their population is five or ten times larger than ours,” Hassig said.
COVID-19 vaccine eligibility 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 | New Orleans attorney as a member of the Report for America body.