SALT LAKE CITY — More doses of COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available in Utah and more people will become eligible to get a vaccination.
On March 1, Utahns 65 and older, along with individuals who have special conditions, will be eligible to get in line for the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Health department officials say they do not want any vaccine going unused and that more medicine is becoming available on a weekly basis.
WATCH: Utah prepares for drive-thru inoculation sites with big boost in COVID-19 vaccine
During their weekly update Friday, Intermountain Healthcare announced a massive effort to get thousands of additional Utahns vaccinated this spring by opening a number of specialty mass vaccination centers.
“We’ll be adding nine high throughputs, so places that can do a thousand vaccinations a day or more,” said Dr. Mark Briesacher. “We’ll be adding nine sites across the state from Logan to St. George.”
WATCH: Cox announces expansion of Utah COVID-19 vaccine eligibility
Governor Spencer Cox announced Thursday that based on projections it’s possible every Utahn who wants to receive the COVID-19 vaccine might be able to do so by the end of May. Dr. Briesacher says he remains cautiously optimistic about that Mark but isn’t making any promises.
One positive byproduct of social distancing, hand sanitizing and mask wearing is that cases of influenza and other upper respiratory illnesses are way down this year. The hope is that people will take lessons from this pandemic in terms of better health practices in the future.