Colorado Vaccine Rollout For Ages 70 And Older: What To Know

When Gov. Jared Polis announced that Coloradans ages 70 and older could begin receiving the coronavirus vaccine Dec. 30, county public health phone lines and messaging services were flooded with calls from seniors who are tired of living in hiding and want to be vaccinated as soon as possible. But the seniors were met with bad news — their county did not have enough doses available for their age category yet.

There was further confusion when metro Denver seniors found out that some of their friends in mountain communities — such as Summit County — were already able to book their appointments.

The state has released a list of facilities that are receiving vaccine shipments, and many of those facilities have been reaching out to patients to offer information about how to make an appointment to receive the vaccine. Some facilities are offering a notification system that will alert patients when vaccinations become available for their demographic.

As of Jan. 12, counties such as Jefferson, Boulder, Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties have not announced precise timelines for the vaccination of people ages 70 and older, according to their respective public health portals. Denver's portal simply refers those 70 and older to the state's website, which doesn't provide specific information about where and when they can be vaccinated — the state is instead relying on facilities to conduct their own outreach to those who are eligible.

Fortunately, that outreach is underway, according to agencies such as Centura Health and UC Health, which are planning to ramp up vaccinations significantly over the next few weeks. And UC Health said it isn't just reaching out to its patients — its facilities have sent hundreds of invitations to people 70 and older who aren't patients.

Boulder County has launched its own notification system, which helped to alleviate some frustration caused by a lack of a local timeline and specifics.

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The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will no longer hold back required second doses of vaccines, which will greatly increase the supply. The administration also announced that states should immediately start vaccinating people ages 65 and older, and young people who are high risk.

"Colorado will not be making any changes to our vaccine program until we can get concrete details on supply quantities, timelines for receiving that supply and engaging our partners who are on the ground administering the vaccine," the state said in a news release issued Tuesday night in response to the federal announcement.

"While the state is not making any changes today, the Polis administration is actively planning how we can scale up and expand eligibility in anticipation for receiving more supply of vaccines."

But as Tri-County Public Health officials have explained in their COVID-19 telephone town halls, eligibility does not mean access.

If the Trump administration's promise to ramp up supply is accurate, then Colorado seniors will hopefully have more answers over the next week about when they can make an appointment.

Colorado is expecting around 70,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses every week through January from the federal government, but the number of doses allocated to the state can change depending on what the federal government is able to provide, state officials said.

Colorado aims to have most people ages 70 and older vaccinated by the end of February, Polis said.