Minnesota Vaccine Timeline For All Eligible Groups Revealed

ACROSS MINNESOTA —Gov. Tim Walz struck an optimistic tone Thursday as he announced the next groups of residents who will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and unveiled a schedule showing when all Minnesotans can expect to get the vaccine.

According to the governor and health officials, every Minnesotan who wants a shot, will be able to get one by this summer.

"This is the press conference on COVID that many of us have been waiting for," said Walz, who noted Thursday marked one year since the first official COVID-19 case in Minnesota.

Walz said the rollout schedule is predicated on current allocation levels of the vaccine. Additional vaccine could speed up the timeline.

"Everything leads me to believe (the amount of vaccine received) is not going to be less, it's going to be more," said Walz, noting the news this week about the impending approval of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which isn't yet factored into the state's plans.

Among the highlights from the Minnesota Department of Health's (MDH) continued vaccine rollout plan:

• As expected, the next phase of the rollout is not scheduled to begin until 70 percent of people 65 and older receive at least one dose of the vaccine, which is expected by the end of March.
• In early spring (officials said the beginning of April), Phase 1B-Tier 2 will begin. This includes people with specific high-risk conditions: sickle cell disease, down syndrome, active cancer treatment, those immunocompromised from organ transplant and oxygen-dependent chronic lung and heart conditions (COPD and CHF). Additionally, food processing plant workers also will be eligible.
• By late spring, Phase 1b-Tier 3 will begin. This phase includes people ages 45-64 with one or more of the high-risk medical conditions the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said increase a person's risk for severe illness from COVID-19; People ages 18-44 with two or more of those high-risk conditions and essential frontline workers in agriculture, child care previously not eligible, correctional, first responders, food production, food retail, food service, manufacturing, public transit and U.S. Postal Service workers.
• Next comes Phase 1B-Tier 4, which includes people age 18 years or over with underlying medical conditions and people 50-64 regardless of health conditions.
• Phase 1C includes all other essential workers, in industries like: transportation and logistics, finance, housing/shelter construction, IT/communications, energy, media, legal, public safety, water and wastewater.
• By the summer, Phase 2 begins, which includes the rest of the general public.

Watch Waltz's Thursday press conference.

According to the MDH's most recent statistics, 373, 455 Minnesotans age 65 and older had received at least one shot, which is about 43.5 percent of the 65-plus population.

Walz teased the next phase of the vaccine rollout at a Tuesday news conference, suggesting it likely would be triggered when the number of seniors with at least one shot reached between 60 and 80 percent.

Those comments drew a backlash from Republican politicians.

"There’s no reason Governor Walz should even be considering expanding efforts until all of our seniors that want the vaccine have been given the opportunity to get it," said state Sen. Karin Housley (R-St. Mary's Point), who is the chairwoman of the Ageing and Long Term Care Policy committee.

On Thursday, Walz made clear that just because a new group becomes eligible for vaccinations does not mean the state will stop vaccinating members of other groups, and he used a transportation analogy to illustrate the concept.

"This is a freeway being built," Walz said. "It's already running for our seniors, and we're going to get to that 70 percent. But that lane will continue and we'll merge in another lane. This has never been attempted in this country, to vaccinate this number of people this fast. It's working."

Walz's Thursday press conference was just the latest step in the state's busy vaccine rollout. Last week, the state's Vaccine Connector went live. On Monday, Walz revealed Hy-Vee stores would be added to the state's Pharmacy Vaccine Network. On Tuesday, Walz held a press conference to discuss how the state would be partnering with several community-based organizations to help connect people, many from minority communities with the vaccine. On Thursday, the governor announced the Mall of America would be become the state's fourth large-scale, permanent COVID-19 vaccine site.