Anyone age 16 and older is officially eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Ohio Department of Health COVID-19 vaccination portal is taking appointments as of Friday (March 26), days ahead of Gov. Mike DeWine’s March 29 target date, News 5 Cleveland reports.
"Earlier this week, I announced that the COVID vaccine providers who were having difficulty filling appointments for this week with currently eligible groups could schedule Ohioans age 16 years old and older for these appointments," DeWine said on Thursday, according to WKYC. "To support these providers, beginning this weekend, we have simplified our portal, our registration process on our GetTheShot.Coronavirus.Ohio.Gov website. We have simplified it to reflect the fact that those age 16-years-old and older are now eligible."
Earlier this month, DeWine revealed the benchmark that would determine when Ohio could lift all health orders in place because of the pandemic:
“When Ohio gets down to 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders will come off,” the governor said in a tweet on March 4. “Cases per 100,000 people for a two-week period is a standard measure we have used since early in the pandemic.”
“The end of our fight is now in view, but we must continue pressing forward in these final days,” he added. “We must not relent.”
The Ohio Department of Health reported more than 1,000,000 total cases statewide as of Friday afternoon, the latest data available. State data show Ohio is at about 146.9 cases per 100,000.
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