OFM breaking
UPDATE:
VACCINE ROLLOUT WITH GOVERNOR POLIS by Ray Manzari
T
here’s been no shortage of confusion surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, on both a state and federal level. While some missteps are to be expected, given the unprecedented scale and speed at which the vaccine is being distributed, we sought to clear up some of that confusion. We reached out to Governor Jared Polis and were able to ask some of the reoccurring questions we’ve seen regarding Colorado’s vaccination plan. The following is a transcript of the recorded interview.
Both. The new, federal guidelines prioritize age 75 and up, in Colorado; we went with age 70 and up because it turns out more than three quarters of our [COVID] deaths in Colorado have been people aged 70 and up. This virus can be deadly for people of all ages, and tragically, we’ve lost people in their 20s and 30s, but it is even more deadly for people over 70, which also represent over 40 percent of hospitalizations. So, our goal is that more than 70 percent of people aged 70 and up are vaccinated by the end of February.
Unfortunately, responses to the pandemic have become highly politicized. You’re up for reelection next year; is that affecting your response to COVID at all?
Are you confident that enough Coloradans will be willing to receive vaccinations in order to achieve herd immunity?
The short answer is no; reelection has nothing to do with the science-based decision-making that we use to balance our approach in Colorado. We take into account the need to save lives, prevent our hospitals from overflowing, the need for economic opportunity and jobs, and the need of social and emotional fulfillment. Colorado has done a good job with being more open than most states, and keeping a lower COVID rate, and we try to navigate that in real time using the data. Were the recent changes to the vaccine rollout plan made to reflect new, federal guidelines or in response to statistics coming from within Colorado?
9News recently covered a story regarding confusion among educators about when they’ll be able to receive vaccines. Can you speak on that?
8 OFM M A R C H 2 0 2 1
Yeah, at this point, the demand far exceeds the supply of vaccines. And there’s many people over 70, and certainly many more over 65, who simply can’t wait to get it. People of all ages are asking when they can get it. As long as we as a society can achieve a good immunization rate in the 70-to-80-percent range, while COVID will continue to exist, it won’t be at the epidemic level that we have today, and the pandemic will be over.
