Nearly 2 million Ohioans have received the first doses of the vaccine, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s vaccine database. With increased vaccine availability in Ohio, the state is able to vaccinate more groups of people. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Nearly 2 million Ohioans have received the first doses of the vaccine, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s vaccine database. With increased vaccine availability in Ohio, the state is able to vaccinate more groups of people, Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State, said in a March 1 COVID-19 town hall.
Ohioans 50 years and older and those with Type 2 diabetes or end-stage kidney disease will be eligible for the shot Thursday as part of the state’s vaccine phases 1D and 2B, Gov. Mike DeWine said in a Monday press conference.
About 1.2 million Ohioans are between 50 and 59 years old, and nearly 200,000 Ohioans under 50 have Type 2 diabetes or end-stage kidney failure, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 website.
As of Monday, the Ohio Department of Health is scheduling vaccine appointments using a central scheduling tool, DeWine said. The site can send text and email messages once a person becomes eligible for the shot.
More than 60 percent of Ohioans aged 75-79 and more than 65 percent of people older than 80 have been vaccinated, according to the state’s vaccine database. Thomas said as of March 1, more than 66,000 vaccine doses have been given at the medical center.
Thomas said vaccine supply increases weekly, and the March 2 shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine brought the state’s supply to more than half a million.
“As we see that amount of vaccine continue to grow, it just means that the state is able to open up vaccination to more and more people,” Thomas said.
There are 1,419 vaccine provider locations across the state as of Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s website.
“While we talk about the Schottenstein Center a lot and that’s our major presence here on campus, almost every retail pharmacy in Franklin County, as well as both the Columbus and Franklin County health departments as well as the other hospitals in the city all have vaccine locations around the county,” Thomas said.
Thomas said healthcare workers will continue to be vaccinated.
Vaccinations opened to groups in phases 1C and 2 March 4, including early childhood education staff, job and family services employees, law enforcement, corrections officers, funeral home employees and Ohioans aged 60 and older. Pregnant people, those with Type 1 diabetes, ALS or who have received bone marrow transplants are also eligible for the shot, Thomas said, for a total of about 246,000 Ohioans in the group.
To learn more about vaccine eligibility and availability, visit the Wexner Medical Center’s Website.
