DeWine names who's next in line for vaccine

School staffff and older adults among those to receive shots soon.

Ohio school staff adults age 65 and older and people with certain medical conditions will be next in line to get the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Ohio began last week distributing the limited supply of COVID19 vaccines to frontline health care workers and residents and staffff of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, largely following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said the prioritization of this next group of Ohioans “protects our most vulnerable.”

Adatewhen the vaccinewill be made available to the next group was not announcedWednesday. DeWine said it will take months before the vaccine becomes available to the general public.

Ohio has administered 11,700 first doses of a two-dose coronavirus vaccine regimen as of Wednesday afternoon, according to theOhioDepartment ofHealth.

That’s about 0.1% of Ohio’s population and about 1% of the 1 million to 1.3 million people ODH estimates are in the first phase of distribution. The state expects delivery of over 370,000doses by the end of the month.

DeWine said it’s important to get school children back in school. About 71% ofOhio schoolchildrenarenotattendinginaccording toDeWine. Of that, about45%areremotelearning full-timeandtherestarebeing taughtpart-timeinschooland part-time online.

Educators and parents say many school children are falling behind during online schoolingandstruggling with increasedmentalhealthproblems, according to DeWine.

“Thegoalistogetthesekids backinschool,” hesaid.“Children are Ohio’s future. We must invest in our future. We must invest in our children.”

Thevaccine willbegivento schools that institute in-person schooling full-time. DeWine said the statewould consider alsoprioritizing schools that go to hybrid learning.

The vaccine can’t be given toschoolchildrenyetbecause thePfizervaccineisonlyemergency authorized for adults 18 and up and the Moderna vaccine is only authorized for individuals 16 and up. Clinical trials with children are still being conducted.

Ohioans65andolderrepresentnearly87% ofthecoronavirus deaths in Ohio so vaccinating the approximately 1.8 million Ohioans in that group will save lives, DeWine said.

“Wealsohavea...verysmall groupofpeoplewhoareunder 65 ... with severe inherited or developmentaldisorders(that will be prioritized) based on medical professionals have told us, these are individuals who are at a very, very high riskif theywould getCOVID,” DeWine said.

Themedicalconditionsthat willqualifyanOhioanforearly vaccinationwillbeannounced at a later date. The governor mentioned sickle cell anemia andDown syndromeas conditions that will be included.

Thisannouncementcomes after a panel that advises the CDCvoted on Sunday to recommendthesecondroundof vaccines go to a large group of people including adults age 75 and older and “frontline essentialworkers,” such as teachers and grocery store employees. DeWinesaiddecisions needed to bemade on whowill gonext since the recommendedgroupis so large.

The Ohio Department of Health reported 7,790 new coronavirus cases, 431 hospitalizationsand109deathsdue to COVID-19 onWednesday.

DeWine unveiled two new maps the state will update weekly.OnemapofOhiocounties shows cases per 100,000 residents over a two week period. Theothermapshows regionalintensivecareunitutilizationbyCOVID