COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility Expanding Due To Virus Variants

CLEVELAND — The spread of COVID-19 variants served as motivation to allow all Ohio adults to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 29, Gov. Mike DeWine said.

"Frankly, we're in a race. We don't know exactly what the enemy is doing. We know from talking to scientists and epidemiologists that [the COVID-19] variant is spreading in Ohio," DeWine said Thursday.

Earlier this week, DeWine announced that Ohioans 16 and older can receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 29. The governor said increasing supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and the mutation of the COVID-19 virus motivated his decision to further expand vaccine eligibility.

"As we hear more and more about the variants in the country - and Ohio - we know that the faster we are able to get Ohioans vaccinated, the safer and more protected we will be," DeWine said.

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

• New cases: 2,104.
• New hospitalizations: 156.

At least 944,699 Ohioans have contracted COVID-19 and recovered, the Ohio Department of Health said.

Nearly 22 percent of Ohioans have received at least the first part of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state health department. More than 12 percent of Ohioans have received both COVID-19 vaccine shots.

As of Thursday afternoon, 2.56 million Ohioans had received at least the first shot of the two-part COVID-19 vaccine; and 1.48 million Ohioans have completed the vaccination process.

To facilitate vaccine distribution, Ohio has launched its first statewide vaccine registration tool, which can be accessed online.