COLOMBIA – Key personnel who work in person, anyone aged 55 or over, and people with certain underlying health problems in South Carolina will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccines as of March 8.
The March 2 announcement by Governor Henry McMaster adds 2.7 million people to the eligibility list, greatly expanding what the state’s public health agency has listed for inclusion in Phase 1B.
They join the 1.3 million South Carolina residents already qualified, which includes anyone aged 65 and over, health professionals and medical first responders. About 660,000 residents received at least their first shot on March 1, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The transition to the next phase of eligibility means that teachers can be vaccinated, as they are among the essential workers who must work in person. But they will not get the priority status they sought last month.
Still, teachers who want to do an injection should be able to do so soon, according to the agreements that school districts have made with local providers, McMaster said.
Essential employees eligible for vaccines on March 8 must be working in person or have a job where they cannot socially distance themselves for 15 minutes or more at a time.
All people over 16 with high-risk medical conditions are also eligible on March 8. They include people with cancer, kidney, lung, diabetic and heart disease.
South Carolina changed the next stages of vaccine implantation with the March 2 announcement, expanding the people eligible to cover almost all other South Carolinians remotely considered to be at high risk.
Based on the supply of vaccines, DHEC now anticipates the next phase of eligibility, including anyone aged 45 and over, as well as other essential workers who do not have frequent contact with others, which will begin around April 12.
Vaccines should be available to anyone in South Carolina aged 16 or over by May 3.
State leaders asked Southern Carolinians not to skip the line and wait until they became eligible. While asking people to bring proof of eligibility, DHEC’s Director, Dr. Edward Simmer, acknowledged that health officials are trusting people to be honest with vaccinators.
Of the nearly 8,600 South Carolinaians who have died of COVID-19 since it was detected here a year ago, 94% of them were 55 or older. And 65% of those who died had other health problems, with heart disease and diabetes being the most common.
The expansion follows federal authorization for a third COVID-19 vaccine.
South Carolina is scheduled to receive 41,000 doses this week in its first distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires a single injection, unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which require two doses several weeks apart for complete immunization.
Appointments for online vaccines can be made at scdhec.gov/vaxlocator. DHEC also has a COVID-19 vaccine information line at (866) 365-8110.
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