The 62-year-old South Carolina resident told CNN on Thursday that his friends and he — all older than 55 but younger than 65 — had been anxiously monitoring the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control website for weeks to see when the state would open up Covid-19 vaccinations for their age group.
On Tuesday, their wait came to an end.
After months of vaccinating frontline health care workers and people 65 and older, the state announced plans to begin vaccinating adults 55 and older starting on March 8. Mandel found out from the text messages he received.
“Early on, particularly in South Carolina, there were a lot of naysayers, but I was confident that I would be able to get a shot by March,” Mandel said. “I bet somebody $100 that I would do that and it looks as though that’s going to happen.”
South Carolina is not the only state now moving to vaccinate people younger than the average retirement age in the United States.
Just days after the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine for emergency use — marking the nation’s third vaccine against Covid-19 — more states began expanding eligibility for vaccination to adults in their 50s.
More states to vaccinate those in their 50s
“Continuing to vaccinate older Arizonans against Covid-19 will help protect those at risk and cover a majority of Arizonans with chronic medical conditions,” Ducey said in part in the statement.
Ducey’s office noted that local health departments in the state can transition to vaccinating younger adults when they either reach 55% of the current eligible ages having been vaccinated or they feel that there is no longer demand for the vaccine among the currently eligible ages.
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