COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that all Ohioans age 16 and over will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations on March 29, part of a major expansion of Ohio’s vaccination program that will make over a million people age 40 and older and with certain medical conditions eligible starting this Friday.
He says the expansion is warranted with a significant increase in vaccine doses expected soon and the decision was made after talking with local health officials earlier in the day.
“The consensus at least was that we need to open up vaccinations even further,” he said during a visit to a mass vaccination site in Cleveland.
Beginning Friday, approximately Ohioans age 40-49 and those with cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD and obesity will be eligible to receive vaccines. Between these two eligible groups, 1.6 million more Ohioans will have access to the vaccine.
Eligibility will expand to include all Ohioans over the age of 15 beginning on March 16.
DeWine says 16- and 17-year-olds will only be able to receive the Pfizer vaccine as that is the only one to receive emergency approval from the federal government for persons under 18.
The state is also offering two pop-up mass vaccination clinics in Columbus and Cincinnati beginning on Thursday and 15 long-term mass vaccination clinics across the state in coming weeks.
The Columbus clinic, capable of administering up to 12,500 first doses and 12,500 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine, will be located at St. John Arena, 410 Woody Hayes Drive.
First doses will be administered March 18-21 from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and second doses from April 8-11.
The site will be operated by Kroger in cooperation with Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Public Health.
Free parking will be available in the parking lot to the north of St. John Arena off of Lane Ave.
Franklin County Public Health is scheduling appointments Thursday for a vaccination clinic next week.
Anyone who wants to sign up to receive the Moderna vaccine at the clinic at 1700 Morse Road Tuesday can do so at the agency’s website starting at 4:00 p.m. or by calling 614-525-5225 on Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Currently, more than one in five Ohioans, nearly 2.5 million people, have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 1.45 million have completed the vaccine regimens.
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The state on Tuesday reported 1,883 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 992,223 since the onset of the pandemic a year ago and the death toll had reached 17,992 deaths. There were 31,386 active cases.
There were 114 new hospital admissions and 867 patients were in Ohio hospitals, occupying 3.17% of the state’s available beds.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate was 3%.