Kentucky plans to move into its next COVID-19 vaccination phase next week.
In an email, Steven Stack, M.D., commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, says that phase 1-C will begin March 15. Kentuckians eligible to receive the vaccine in this phase must be age 60 or older.
This phase also includes all essential workers as well as residents who are age 16 or older with medical or behavioral conditions that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can increase risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Stack notes that smoking is not among the covered conditions in Kentucky and says vaccination sites should continue to prioritize people 60 and older. All sites are still urged to use at least 90% of all vaccine doses within seven days of arrival, he says.
According to Kentucky’s COVID-19 dashboard on March 12, the state has more than 414,000 positive coronavirus cases and more than 4,900 deaths. The positivity rate is 3.95%.
“The positivity rate ticked up a little bit, to 3.95%,” Beshear says in an email. “We like to see that below 5%.”
For more information, visit govstatus.egov.com/kycovid19.
