SALT LAKE CITY – Starting next week, all Utahns eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine will have the offer offered.
Governor Spencer Cox made a surprise announcement at his monthly news conference on Thursday.
“Embrace the chaos a little,” he joked with reporters.
As of March 24, any Utahn over the age of 16 will receive the vaccine, one week before their target date of April 1 previous. The governor said that until Thursday, 15% of the vaccine doses had not been claimed, so he was encouraging people who are now eligible to be vaccinated before demand becomes more restricted.
“This is a significant movement in time. It also means that there will be no vaccine available for everyone next week. I want to be very clear about this. It may take a few weeks for you to schedule an opportunity to get vaccinated,” he warned.
The news was released in local health departments on Wednesday night. Lori Buttars, a spokeswoman for the Weber-Morgan Health Department, said they are already making plans to expand vaccine clinics en masse.
“So far, we’ve had a great response from our residents,” she told FOX 13. “Many people indicate that they want this vaccine and we want to be able to get them. We know that supplies will be a little tight for a while. Our shipments have been stable for a few weeks. But we do about 1,200 a day at the Dee Events Center. “
Utah is forecasting an increase in doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to the new coronavirus are also starting to fall.
The governor’s action is also ahead of a self-imposed deadline. The Utah State Legislature approved a bill dubbed the “final game COVID-19”, which suspends health restrictions once certain metrics are met. But it also suspends the mandate of the state mask on April 10.
The bill still requires masks in schools, at meetings where there are more than 50 people, and private companies can still demand them. Governor Cox also asked the Utahns to voluntarily use facial coverage until all Utahns have been vaccinated.
“People are smarter than we believe,” he told reporters.
Although his office and the Utah Department of Health were involved in negotiating the bill with the legislature, the governor criticized it.
“This is not what we wanted. I have been critical from the start,” he said.
But questioned by FOX 13 why he simply did not veto the bill, the governor acknowledged the sometimes complicated affairs of politics.
“This is the practical piece that I think a lot of people don’t understand about making sausages,” he said of the legislation. “We always have a choice. We can say, ‘Hey, we can veto a bill and we are not going to negotiate’. But when I get involved in the negotiations, I do what I believe is best for the state and I have to get as much as I can. We believe that they had votes to override a veto for the immediate end of the masks. I believe it with all my heart. “
Although he suggested a possible veto, Governor Cox is expected to sign the bill because he struck a deal with the legislature.