Vaccine eligibility in Utah continues to expand. On Monday, all residents over age 50 will qualify for a vaccine, as well as people over age 16 with certain underlying conditions.
“I'm going to repeat it one more time for those in the back. Everyone 50 years of age and older, those with diabetes, type one or type two, those that are obese, which is a BMI index of 30, and anyone with chronic kidney disease,” said Gov. Spencer Cox during a press conference on Thursday.
This will be the largest group of Utahns added to the vaccine eligibility. This new group is eligible for vaccines on Monday and to help reduce stress on local health districts, Cox asked people in this group to wait until Monday to sign up for a vaccine.
“We are always striving to have more demand than we have vaccines to make sure that we aren't having any appointments that are going unfilled,” Cox said. “This is a huge addition to eligibility, which means that it's not going to be possible for everyone in these areas to get an appointment right away.”
Despite anticipating that call centers and websites will be overwhelmed by this influx, Cox said the number of vaccines coming to the state each week keeps increasing, which is why they feel comfortable expanding availability so drastically.
Cox also announced that Cache, Salt Lake, Davis, Wasatch, Grand and Sanpete counties are moving to the moderate transmission index. This means as long as people wear masks and follow other distancing guidelines, there are no restrictions in these counties on the number of people who can gather.
