Minnesota Vaccine Rollout: See New Details For Each Phase

MINNESOTA — With the supply of the coronavirus vaccine shipped to Minnesota gradually increasing, the state's health department Health this week issued new guidance on its multifaceted vaccination plan and announced its goal to open vaccine appointments to the general public by summer.

The department’s new guidance details four priorities in its vaccination plan: maximizing benefits and reducing harm by protecting the most vulnerable residents, promoting justice and mutual responsibility, mitigating systemic inequities that affect some Minnesotans more than others and promoting transparency.

The new guidance also adds high-risk conditions and more types of essential workers to each of the tiers in vaccination Phases 1B, 1C and 2.

Currently underway in Minnesota is Phase 1B-Tier 1, which allows for the vaccination of residents over the age of 65, along with child care and education workers.

Here are the groups that fall under each phase:

Phase 1B-Tier 2

• Expected to begin in April
• Begins vaccinations for workers in food processing facilities
• Allows for the vaccination of people 16 and older with certain medical conditions:
  • Sickle cell
  • Down syndrome
  • Treatment for active cancer
  • People are immunocompromised after receiving an organ transplant
  • People who rely on an external source of oxygen due to a chronic lung or heart condition
• Health care providers can disperse vaccines as they see fit based on other conditions and disabilities that increase a person’s risk

Phase 1B-Tier 3

• Expected in May
• Allows for the vaccination of people 50 and older who live in multi-generational housing
• Allows for the vaccination of people between 45 and 64 with at least one of the medical conditions below, and people between 16 and 44 with at least two of the conditions conditions below:
  • Active cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD
  • Down syndrome
  • High-risk heart conditions
  • Obesity
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Types 1 and 2 diabetes
  • Immunocompromised people
• Essential workers in Phase 1B-Tier 3 include:
  • agriculture workers
  • airport staff
  • Correctional system workers
  • First responders
  • Grocery workers
  • Staff in judicial, postal and public health positions

Related: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Coming To Minnesota This Week

Phase 1B-Tier 4

• Expected to begin in late spring
• Vaccines available to anyone between 50 and 65
• People over the age of 16 with one of the following underlying conditions:
  • Active cancer
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • COPD
  • Down syndrome
  • High-risk heart conditions
  • Obesity
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Types 1 and 2 diabetes
  • Immunocompromised people.

Phase 1C

• Vaccines are available to essential workers in the fields of:
  • Energy
  • Finance
  • Construction
  • Information technology
  • Communications
  • Legal
  • Media
  • Public safety
  • Transportation and logistics
  • Water and wastewater management

Once high-risk residents and essential workers are vaccinated, estimated to take place in the summer, the state will enter Phase 2, which opens vaccines up to the remainder of the public.

While several tiers of Phase 1B allow for essential workers to be vaccinated, the state’s guidance recommends that essential workers who are able to telecommute wait until Phase 2 to be vaccinated unless they qualify based on medical condition or age.

According to the documentation, the framework exists to guide providers in determine who is eligible for vaccination and when. Still, other factors including disproportionately impacted communities and how recently a person has had COVID-19 should be considered.

The health department said it is also working with community partners to identify and target underserved populations and ensure they have a place for vaccination in a priority group.

It was announced on Tuesday that Minnesota will receive over 45,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine this week, which can be kept at warmer temperatures and delivered in a single dose.

Officials said they are "encouraged" by the approval of the vaccine and are hopeful it adds flexibility to the current guidance.

"Generally, the direction of the timeline the governor laid out is a good planning tool, but we have every hope we may be able to accelerate those timelines by some degree," a health department spokesperson said.

State data on Wednesday showed 484,383 Minnesotans, or 8.7 percent of the state’s population, had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and 928,963 people, or approximately 16.7 percent of Minnesotans, had received at least one dose of a vaccine.