CEDARVILLE, Ohio — The state of Ohio is moving forward in its plan to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to those people in Phase 1B.
At his COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that hospitals across the state need to complete the process of vaccinating their staff members by midnight this Sunday. On Monday, they must move to vaccinate older Ohioans who are 80 or older as part of phase 1B.
DeWine says there are approximately 420,000 Ohioans who are 80 years of age are older. "As of now, we expect to receive around 100,000 vaccines next week for this age group, so it will take some time to vaccinate this group," the governor explained.
Local health departments, emergency management agencies, and providers in each county in Ohio will notify the media on Wednesday and Thursday about the process residents can use to be vaccinated in their counties - times, locations, for next week.
"We expect the process to look different depending on the provider. Some may hold walk up clinics, others may take appointments. Each provider can decide what they believe works," DeWine said.
The governor said the state is requesting that vaccine provider to complete their vaccinations within 7 days.
On January 25th, DeWine anticipates vaccinations will open up to those 75 years old and older. The following week, it should open to people 70 and older, and on February 8th, the vaccinations are expected to be available to those 65 and older.
DeWine added that the state will post information on coronavirus.ohio.gov about what providers are being allocated vaccinations for next week. Residents will be able to search by zip code and by county.
You can watch Gov. DeWine's COVID-19 briefing from Tuesday in the player below:
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