Louisiana COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expands to residents 16 and older with certain health conditions

By Reveille Staff Report

March 10, 2021

FILE – In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, a volunteer receives a COVID-19 test vaccine injection developed at the University of Oxford in Britain, at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make it happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, FIle)

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced on Tuesday that Louisiana COVID-19 vaccine eligibility is expanding to include individuals aged 16 and older who have underlying health conditions.

The new guidelines offer the vaccine to anyone in the age range who is overweight, a former or current smoker or suffers from other complications that could put them at greater risk for experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms, such as asthma, kidney disease, cancer, COPD, Down Syndrome, “heart conditions,” high blood pressure, sickle cell disease and diabetes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a full list of underlying medical conditions on its website.

“This is great news for tens of thousands of additional, high risk Louisianans who are now eligible to take the COVID-19 vaccines immediately,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the vaccine will also be available to those who work in congregate living facilities, including jail and prison guards and group home staff.

Louisiana residents who are under the age of 18 will only be eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine.

“Appointments will still be required, and I hope people will be patient as doses are still very limited and not everyone will be able to immediately get their vaccine,” Edwards said. “This is another leap forward for Louisiana as we work together to put the COVID-19 pandemic in our rear view.”