KENTUCKY — The Bluegrass state will expand vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older starting Monday, April 5 in another major expansion of COVID-19 shots, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.

The continued ramp-up comes as many appointment slots go unfilled at some vaccine sites, he said.

As a result, vaccine eligibility will expand to Kentuckians 16 and older for the Pfizer vaccine and 18 and older for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the governor said.

“This is a good day. This news means that we will beat the president’s goal by a month to have COVID-19 vaccinations opened up to everyone,” Beshear said at a press conference Wednesday. “We are seeing in a number of states an increase in cases and hospitalizations, and it’s happening among younger people. We want to get ahead of the more aggressive COVID-19 variants and make sure that we fill every available appointment."

It’s also meant to be a preemptive move to try to prevent an increase in coronavirus-related hospitalizations reported in some other states among younger people, he said.

“What we’re seeing is that the vaccines work and older Americans have gotten it,” the governor said. “We’re seeing more younger Americans ending up in the hospital. We believe it’s because of the more aggressive variants. We want to get ahead of them.”

The latest expansion comes just days after the state opened vaccinations to anyone 40 or older, and on the same day that Indiana, Kentucky's neighbors across the Ohio River, opened eligibility to residents 16 and older.

Beshear had previously said he wanted to open vaccines to all Kentucky adults by April 12, and President Joe Biden set a goal for all states to open vaccine eligibility before May 1.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.