Ohio Begins Vaccinating People 75+ This Week

COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio has begun vaccinating people 75 and older.

Gov. Mike DeWine said the state is also vaccinating Ohioans with certain medical conditions and developmental disabilities. The state will expand who can receive the vaccine every week through Feb. 8.

As the Phase 1A group finishes its vaccination process, additional vaccine doses will be freed up for older Ohioans, DeWine said.

"We're simply putting more focus on those who are older Ohioans, those who are at the gravest risk," DeWine said.

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The governor added that some nursing home workers and residents have refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Knowing that 350,000 vaccines had been set aside to vaccinate those populations, DeWine instructed staff to draw on those reserves.

"We'll have another 77,000 vaccines to spread [to older Ohioans] over two weeks," he said.

Moving forward, vaccines will be needed for Ohio's teachers, DeWine said. So health officials will eventually need to redirect some of the vaccines away from older Ohioans and toward school staffers.

"We continue to have a scarcity of vaccines," the governor said. He said he hopes additional vaccine allotments will flow into Ohio in the future.

He indicated that officials will need to balance vaccine distribution to protect older Ohioans and to get children back into schools. School staffers will begin being vaccinated later this week, in Cincinnati, before clinics are setup statewide on Feb. 1.

Not all schools will receive vaccines on Feb. 1, but all staffers should get at least their first vaccine shot in the month of February, DeWine said. All school districts should know by Friday when staff can begin receiving vaccines.

As of Tuesday, at least 626,867 Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine.

Tuesday's COVID Numbers

While new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline in Ohio, other metrics spiked slightly on Tuesday, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.

Here are all of Tuesday's COVID-19 numbers:

• New cases: 4,262
• New deaths: 88
• New hospitalizations: 295
• New ICU admissions: 40

The number of COVID-19 patients in Ohio hospitals has been trending down, DeWine said.

The Ohio Department of Health estimates that 736,651 Ohioans have contracted COVID-19 and recovered.

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