San Francisco began allowing individuals aged 16 to 64 with a body mass index, or BMI, over 30, to receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting on Monday – a requirement that is less stringent than the rules of state eligibility.
State and city officials expanded the COVID-19 vaccination eligibility list on Monday to include people aged 16 to 64 with disabilities and serious underlying conditions, such as obesity and diabetes.
The state Department of Public Health says people with severe obesity – or a BMI over 40 – are now eligible for the vaccine. In San Francisco, the BMI requirement is 30 or more.
San Francisco supervisor Matt Haney tweeted on Monday: “Anyone with a BMI of 30 or more in San Francisco is also eligible for the vaccine starting today.”
BMI is a measure of a person’s weight category (underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity) based on their weight in kilograms and their height, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is used as a screening tool, “but it does not diagnose an individual’s body fat or health,” said the CDC.
For children and adolescents, BMI is known as BMI for the person’s age and gender and age factors, according to the CDC.
There are a few ways to calculate the BMI of an adult or child and adolescent.
For adults, the first option is to do some math: divide your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. For example, if your weight is 68 kg and your height is 165 cm (1.65 m), the calculation would be: 68 ÷ (1.65) 2 = 24.98 (BMI).
The second and easiest option for adults is to enter the numbers into a BMI calculator to do the math for you.
Adults must include their height and weight in the BMI calculator. Children and adolescents have separate BMI calculators and must include their gender and age.
Here are some BMI calculators online:
Adult: CDC BMI Calculator
Adult: US Department of Health and Human Services standard BMI calculator
Adult: American Cancer Society Body Mass Index Calculator
Child or adolescent: CDC BMI calculator
Child or Teenager: Stanford Children’s Health BMI Calculator
These are the BMI ranges for adults, according to the CDC:
Below 18.5: insufficient weight
18.5-24.8: normal or healthy weight
25-29.9: Overweight
30 and above: obese
BMI ranges for children and adolescents, according to the CDC:
After a child’s or adolescent’s BMI is calculated, it is measured as a percentile using a graph of BMI percentile growth for age based on sex. Here are the CDC tables for boys and girls.
These are the ranges, according to the CDC:
Less than the 5th percentile: Low weight
5th percentile less than 85th percentile: normal or healthy weight
85º less than the 95º perentil: Overweight
Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile: obese
And here’s where and how you can schedule your appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine in San Francisco and other counties in the Bay Area.
Jessica Flores is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jesssmflores