COVID In Colorado: Gov. Polis Defends Decision To Expand Vaccine Access

DENVER (CBS4) - As the state of Colorado works on distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to people 70 and older and people in underserved populations, they're also opening vaccines to people ages 65 to 69.

"Finishing up everyone 65 to 69 will take until the first week of March, meaning some will get it this week, some next week, others the week after that," Gov. Jared Polis said.

Educators will also get the vaccine within the next three weeks, Polis announced Tuesday at a news conference.

"If you're an educator, you work with your school district, and educators are not competing against people 65 to 69, or people 70 and up," said Polis. "You don't sign up anywhere other than if your school district or private school employer gives you a link. That's where you sign up."

With a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of Coloradans 70 and up by the end of February, Polis says limiting vaccines to that age group will cause more harm than good.

"We wanted to make sure that we didn't create a bottleneck that kept the vaccines on shelves when there are folks 65 and older ready to receive it," said Polis.

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