COLUMBUS, Ohio — Starting Friday, eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine expands to all residents 40 and older, as well as a group of individuals with medical conditions, officials said Tuesday morning.
People with five medical conditions will be in Phase 1E. The eligible conditions are cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and obesity.
Phase 2C will include about 818,000 people who are between 40 and 49, Gov. Mike DeWine said, making the announcement at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center, where a mass vaccination clinic opened Tuesday.
About 766,000 people with medical conditions are now eligible for the vaccine.
The governor said he and Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine spent the weekend discussing vaccine eligibility with health departments, hearing from commissioners in some counties that it was becoming more difficult to fill all their available appointments.
He discussed the question of eligibilty further Tuesday morning with representatives from the 113 health departments in the state.
"My question to them this morning was: Are you filling up? How fast are you filling up, or have you had to cancel any clinics?" he said. "The answer that we got back was certainly mixed. In some parts of the state there's more demand, frankly, geographically than other parts of the state, but the consensus from talking to the health departments who really have their best view of what is going on, the consensus at least was that we need to open up vaccinations even further."
The governor said the state has a "moral imperative" to administer its vaccine supply as quickly as it can, sharing a story of a friend who might still be alive if had gotten a shot just a few days earlier.
Ohio will also expand vaccine eligility to all residents on March 29, the governor announced.
Ohio is expecting about 400,000 doses this week and a significant boost at the end of the month, making the expansions possibility.
"We have every indication from the federal government and the Biden administration that we will see a rather significant increase for the week of March 29," DeWine said.