Teachers, school staffs soon to be eligible for COVID shots

Teachers, school support staff members and day-care employees will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning Monday, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday at a press conference.

Pregnant women and people 55-64 with certain health conditions will also become eligible for coronavirus vaccine Monday.

Meanwhile, Louisiana is struggling with a new emergency, the second winter storm in three days, while its nearly year-old fight against COVID-19 continues.

The broader eligibility will add about 450,000 people to the list of those who may make appointments for COVID-19 shots.

You can learn more about the vaccination process at https://ldh.la.gov/covidvaccine/ .

Here is the list of priority groups:

Priority Group 1-A: Ongoing (around 249,000 eligible people)

Health care workers at Tier 1 and Tier 2 hospitals
Staff and residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities
First responders to serve as vaccinators (Emergency Medical Services, fire personnel, law enforcement)

Priority Group 1-B, Tier One: As of Monday, February 22, 2021 (around 1,391,000 eligible people)

Dialysis providers and patients
Ambulatory and outpatient providers and staff
Behavioral health providers and staff
Urgent care clinic providers and staff
Community care providers and staff
Dental providers and staff
Nonemergency Medical Transportation staff
Professional home care providers (including hospice workers) and home care recipients (including older and younger people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community or home-based care, as well as clients of home health agencies)
American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and Support Service Providers (SSPs) working in community and clinic-based settings, and clients who are both deaf and blind
Health-related support personnel (lab staff, mortuary staff who have contact with corpses, pharmacy staff)
Schools of allied health students, residents and staff
Law enforcement and other first responders
Persons 65 years old and older
Louisiana Unified Command Group
State and local essential COVID emergency response personnel
Some elections staff ahead of March and April elections
Teachers and any other support staff working onsite in K-12 or daycare
Individuals aged 55-64 with at least one of the conditions listed by the CDC as placing them at an “increased risk of severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19.”
Cancer
Chronic kidney disease
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
Down Syndrome
Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies
Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30kg/m2 or higher but < 40kg/m2)
Severe obesity (BMIC >40kg/m2)
Pregnancy
Sickle Cell Disease
Smoking
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
All pregnant persons, regardless of age.