Colorado Opens Vaccine Eligibility Floodgates: All Residents 16 And Older Can Sign Up Starting April 2

By Moe Clark, Colorado Newsline

Mar. 29, 2021

Gov. Jared Polis announced on Monday that anyone 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting on Friday.

“This is a really important step that Colorado will be taking,” the governor said during a media briefing.

The announcement comes just 10 days after the most recent vaccine priority group opened, which includes about 2.5 million Coloradans who are 50 and older, have high-risk health conditions, or are essential workers.

The vaccine eligibility floodgates are opening as the state is seeing a spike in COVID-19 variant cases and restrictions are slowly lifting in many parts of the state. Last week, Colorado adjusted it’s COVID-19 dial to ease restrictions on businesses and restaurants and allow counties to open up more if their case counts are low enough.

“The good news is that the vaccines are still highly effective against the variant so that’s why we need to be patient,” Polis said on Monday. “In these final few weeks, we need to wear masks, which also work against the variants, we need to have social distance to avoid large get-togethers with other people and to avoid seeing others in indoor settings that don’t live under your own roof.”

Polis warned on Monday that not all who are eligible starting April 2 will be able to schedule an appointment right away. He anticipates the process to inoculate all the Coloradans who want the vaccine will take between six to eight weeks.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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