Starting Monday (March 28), everyone in Louisiana who is 16 or older will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of occupation or health status.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, who made the announcement during a press conference Wednesday afternoon, stressed that of the three vaccines approved for use in the United States, only Pfizer-BioNTech’s has been approved for patients 16 or 17 years old.
The other two, made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, are currently approved for use in anyone 18 or older.
Anyone wishing to get the vaccine must make an appointment first.
Appointments are available through STHS from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and should be made via the free MyChart app. Those experiencing difficulty with the app can make an appointment by calling (985) 898-4001, which is answered 24/7, although anticipated heavy call volumes may result in a longer-than-usual wait during peak hours.
Wednesday’s announcement comes a week after Gov. Edwards widened eligibility to include those working in a broad array of occupations. But with the flow of vaccines into the state from the federal government more than doubling over the past several weeks, he said, it is now possible to offer vaccines to everyone.
“All three vaccines are safe, all three are effective,” Gov. Edwards said. “In the not too distant future, we’re going to have enough doses for everyone who wants one. What we need to do is make sure everybody wants one.”
He added that the state is “in a race against time and against variants,” noting that the B.1.1.7 variant – widely referred to as the British variant – is already present in Louisiana and is more transmissible than previous variants.
For that reason, he said, even vaccinated people should continue to wear face coverings, practice social distancing, exercise good hand hygiene “and get whatever vaccine is available first.”