By GRANT SCHULTE-Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska will move to its next coronavirus vaccination phase on Monday with a focus on residents who are 50 to 64 years old and those with certain health conditions, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Friday.
Ricketts said the change will apply to the entire state, unlike previous phases where the transition has taken place by public health district.
Under the new phase, 90% of doses are required to go to residents in the 50-to-64 age group or people who qualified under previous phases. The remaining 10% will go to people with health conditions that are chosen by local doctors and public health officials in each region.
Health officials have spent the last several weeks vaccinating residents who are at least 65 years old. On Friday, they implored residents to sign up on the state's vaccine registration website, vaccinate.ne.gov, even if they aren't yet eligible.
"There's no need to wait at this point," said Angie Ling, incident commander for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. "Your turn may be here before you know it."
Ling said Nebraska has about 350,000 residents in the 50-to-64 demographic, and roughly 90,000 of them have already been vaccinated because they qualified in other ways. Health officials have previously focused on health care employees, first responders and meatpacking workers, among other key groups that were exposed to the virus.
State officials have since focused on delivering vaccinations by age, based on substantially higher death rates from the virus among the elderly.
Residents who are at least 65 account for 83% of Nebraska's coronavirus deaths, according to the state's online tracking portal. State officials have confirmed 205,814 cases and 2,133 deaths since the pandemic began.
Ricketts said state officials have vaccinated 71.75% of residents who are at least 65.
Nebraska had 129 residents who were hospitalized with the virus as of Friday, according to the state's online tracking portal. The number has stayed fairly consistent throughout March after dropping sharply from the record highs set in mid-November, when state officials imposed tighter social-distancing restrictions to try to keep the virus from spreading.
Nebraska has given complete vaccinations to 16.5% of the state population that is at least 16 years old, according to the tracking portal. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks Nebraska eighth nationally in the number of doses delivered per 100,000 people.
The announcement of a new phase comes two days after neighboring Iowa announced that all of its residents will be eligible for a vaccine starting April 5, as long as supply projections are met. Nebraska officials said last month they expect to make the vaccine available to all residents by late April or early May.
Asked whether Nebraska will follow Iowa's timeline, Ricketts said he doesn't plan to deviate from the state's current focus on elderly residents.
"I think we're doing the right plan for Nebraska," he said.