Colorado is set to begin receiving roughly twice as many weekly doses of coronavirus vaccine starting in April compared to what it’s allotted now as production ramps up and the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine is widely distributed.
“News of increasing supply is a very, very good thing,” Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday at a news conference at the governor’s mansion in downtown Denver. “I’m confident that summer will be very close to normal.”
Starting the week of April 11, Colorado is forecast to receive more than 400,000 weekly doses of coronavirus vaccine. That includes about 100,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which Polis says will be twice as impactful since it is only administered in one dose as opposed to the two doses needed for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown slightly lower overall efficacy in clinical trials than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but it still offers high levels of protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
Polis did not elaborate on what “normal” means and he couched his remarks by saying that vaccine distribution is subject to change and that an explosion in coronavirus variant cases could derail progress made in inoculating people against the disease.
“Based on what we see with the vaccine data, as long as the vaccine continues to be effective and based on these numbers I expect the pandemic phase of this will likely be over this summer,” Polis said. “That doesn’t mean the disease goes away.”
The governor said that by June and July he doesn’t think the majority of people will be wearing masks in grocery stores, suggesting that he could end his mask-wearing mandate in the coming months.
The suggestion comes after Texas on Tuesday became the largest state to lift its mask mandate.
As part of the increase in doses, vaccine clinics will be held Friday for workers at the JBS and Cargill meat-packing facilities in Greeley and Fort Morgan. Both were hard hit by deadly COVID-19 outbreaks at the beginning of the pandemic.
Polis also announced on Tuesday that Colorado has reached its goal of vaccinating at least 70% of Coloradans ages 70 and older by Feb. 28.
Starting on Friday, Coloradans 60 and older, as well as people with two or more high-risk conditions and those who work at grocery stores and food-production facilities, will be eligible to receive the vaccine.
The governor believes the general public in Colorado will have access to the vaccine as soon as May.
This content was originally published here.
