Gov. Beshear Sets COVID-19 Vaccination Priorities

DEM Blogger

January 5, 2021

On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear and Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health has announced that Kentuckians will be inoculated in four phases.

The Governor said the state’s goal is to administer 90% of all vaccine doses received in the state within seven days of arrival and that the newly announced additional phases provide clarity on when more Kentuckians can get the vaccine. The phases also help providers understand what order vaccines should be administered in, which is crucial if they are having challenges meeting the 90% weekly goal or if they have extra thawed vaccine.

The Governor said 60,414 vaccine doses have already been administered in Kentucky; 57,000 doses (27,300 from Pfizer and from 29,700 from Moderna) will be delivered this week.

“We’ve got to get these things out faster. I’m not OK with the pace that they are currently being provided. We have too many people out there who are rightfully anxious, and they need to see this whole country pick up the pace. We are certainly going to do it here in Kentucky,” said Gov. Beshear. “Today we’re going to talk about some changes we’re making, some additional clarification, so if we ever have another case like those two stores that thaw too much vaccine again, they know exactly what population should get it.”

The planned vaccination phases are:

• Phase 1a: Long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities, health care personnel – CURRENT
• Phase 1b: First responders, Kentuckians age >= 70, K-12 school personnel
• Phase 1c: Kentuckians age >= 60, anyone older than 16 with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highest-risk conditions for COVID-19, all essential workers
• Phase 2: Age >= 40
• Phase 3: Age >= 16
• Phase 4: Children under the age of 16 if the vaccine is approved for this age group (estimated to comprise 18% of Kentucky’s population)

“We are committed to getting this done quickly, efficiently and in the best way we know how and are able to deliver. We’re committed to ramping up the pace dramatically,” said Dr. Stack. “We’re asking every vaccination site to use the prioritization guidance and stick with that, but the top level goal is for every vaccine administration site in the state to administer 90% or more of the vaccine doses they receive within one week, so we don’t have vaccine doses waiting in a freezer until the next week.”

To view the CDC’s highest-risk conditions for COVID-19, click here. To view essential workers, defined for these vaccination phases, click here.