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Vaccines Available To Ohioans 80+ Next Week; DeWine Activates National Guard
By: Leila Goldstein | WYSO
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WYSO) — Vaccines will be available to Ohioans 80 years and older beginning Tuesday, Jan. 19. About 800 providers across the state have been selected to be part of the first week of distribution.
In order to begin vaccinating the public next week, DeWine announced that hospitals must finish vaccinating their personnel by midnight on Sunday, Jan. 17.
“We really need to move and we need to move to this age group,” he said.
About 100,000 vaccinations will be available next week. Not all Ohioans 80 years and older, a population of about 420,000, will be able to get vaccinated in the first week. After next week people in that age group will continue to be eligible for vaccination. The state plans to begin vaccinating Ohioans 75 and older on January 25, 70 and older on February 1, and 65 and older on February 8.
Gov. Mike DeWine also signed an order activating 580 members of the Ohio National Guard to be available for use in Washington D.C. and Ohio. This follows the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and reported plans for future armed protests in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“People have every right to protest. They have every right to do it peacefully,” he said. “We also saw what happened at the U.S. Capitol, and we’re very concerned.”
Gov. Mike DeWine said the state is fully prepared to activate more members of the national guard if needed.