COVID-19 vaccination eligibility expanded again

Southwestern Public Health announced Wednesday, March 31, that eligibility to receive a COVID-19 vaccination has been expanded to include residents, “primary essential caregivers” and staff of “high-risk congregate living settings.”

Such settings were described as “residential facilities where a high-risk client populatoin live or stay overnight and use shared spaces” such as sleeping areas, bathrooms, kitchens and dining rooms.

They include: supportive housing; emergency homeless shelters; the homeless as a group; homes for special care; mental health and addictions congregate living spaces; employer-provided living accommodations for temporary foreign agriculture workers; adult correction facilities; women’s shelters; children’s residential facilities; youth justice facilities; and inpatients at rehabilitation, complex care, geriatrics and mental health units.

Anyone 16 or older with a high-risk health condition is also eligible, including: organ transplant recipients; stem cell transplant recipients; those with neurological conditions that might affect breathing; and those with kidney disease.