Gov. Jared Polis and leaders with Colorado’s public health department have twice updated the way the state is going to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, most recently moving people 70 and older and essential workers including teachers to a higher priority.
The plan breaks down distribution into three phases spread over winter, spring and summer — those categories are all detailed below.
Those at highest risk — health care workers who are in contact with infected patients, those who live and work in nursing homes — were the first to begin getting vaccines in December. As of Jan. 1, Colorado is in Phases 1A and 1B of vaccine distribution, though the second change to the plan, announced Dec. 30, seemingly breaks Phase 1B into two separate levels.
Indira Gujral, Boulder County Public Health’s Communicable Disease and Emergency Management division manager, noted in a news release the dotted line that separates two groups of people in the state’s newly expanded Phase 1B.
“State health is telling us that all vaccine providers need to focus on the 1B group above the dotted line before they can move to the populations identified below the dotted line,” Gujral said. “This means that teachers and other frontline workers in transportation, grocery stores, etc., will be next after we provide the vaccine to the nearly 30,000 residents (of Boulder County) who are 70 years of age and older.”
More at-risk groups will follow through winter and spring, with the rest of the public expected to be vaccinated in the summer.
So how will you know when you can get vaccinated?
Some of the people in the early phases — medical workers, teachers, other essential workers — are there due to their jobs, and can expect to be notified through their employers. Others, like anyone 70 or older or people with health conditions that put them at greater risk, can wait for their county of residence to announce plans or consult their health care provider.
A few counties, including Summit and Eagle, have announced ways that people 70 and older can register to be vaccinated, but most others have not yet done that.
Here’s exactly how Colorado is planning to prioritize the population:
PHASE 1: Winter
1A: Highest-risk health care workers and individuals
- People who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period
- Long-term care facility staff and residents
1B: Coloradans age 70+, moderate-risk health care workers, first responders, frontline essential workers, and continuity of state government:
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- Health care workers with less direct contact with COVID-19 patients (e.g. home health, hospice, pharmacy, dental, etc.) and EMS
- Firefighters, police, COVID-19 response personnel, correctional workers and funeral services
- People age 70 and older
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- Frontline essential workers in education, food and agriculture, manufacturing, U.S. Postal Service, public transit and specialized transportation staff, grocery, public health, frontline essential human service workers, and direct care providers for Coloradans experiencing homelessness
- Essential officials from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government
- Essential frontline journalists
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PHASE 2: Spring
Higher-risk individuals and essential other workers
- People ages 60-69
- People ages 16-59 with obesity, diabetes, chronic lung disease, significant heart disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer or are immunocompromised
- Other essential workers and continunity of local government
- Adults who received a placebo during a COVID-19 vaccine trial
PHASE 3: Summer
The general public
- Anyone ages 16 to 59
Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
