COLUMBUS, Ohio - During the Thursday Ohio Coronavirus briefing Ohio Governor Mike Dewine laid out a more concrete plan to get the elderly and school staff vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Governor talked about rolling out vaccine Phase 1B beginning on Tuesday, January 19.

On that date, vaccinations will be available to those 80 years of age and older.

DeWine said that the people in that group, outside of long-term care, represent up to 420,000 people in the state.

Ohio is expected to receive 100,000 doses the week of January 19 according to DeWine.

The current plan is to distribute the vaccines through physicians, local health departments, hospitals, federally-qualified health centers, in-home health service providers, as well as some retail pharmacies.

Specific locations for vaccine distribution were not mentioned in Thursday's conference.

However, the Department of Health has approximately 1,700 providers already registered to distribute vaccinations and is planning to add more according to DeWine.

On Wednesday, January 13, and Thursday, January 14 the state health department is asking local Emergency Management Agencies to hold press conferences announcing where vaccinations will be available in their respective counties and how individuals can receive them.

An online tool will be launched next week on the state's coronavirus website where people will be able to see where vaccines are being distributed in their county and what group is eligible for a vaccination.

The Governor then stated that on January 25, it is expected vaccinations will expand to those 75 years old and older, and then week by week the age requirement would decrease by 5 years. 
 
Meaning, on January 25, people 75 years and older; February 1, people 70 years and older; February 8, people 65 years and older; and so on.
 

The governor said when a new age range opens, that doesn’t mean that vaccinations should be complete for the previous age range.

"It will take a number of weeks to distribute all of the vaccine given the limited doses available," said DeWine.

Beginning the week of January 25, vaccinations will be available to those with severe congenital, developmental, or early-onset medical disorders.

Details on how people who fall into that category will be announced in the coming days.

The governor continued to talk about teaching staff and getting kids to return, at least partially, to in-person learning.

The governor said, during the week of February 1 vaccination of school personnel will begin.

DeWine said this is being done to get kids back in the classroom and in order to do that schools will be asked to sign a commitment that if a school receives a shipment of the vaccine they will return students to in-person or hybrid learning by March 1.

"This week we are sending forms to be signed by superintendents. We are asking them to agree to go back to full in-person or hybrid learning by March 1st. That is a condition of getting the vaccine," said DeWine.

The state will be asking schools to send the number of staff they believe will choose to take the vaccination and indicate if they are already working with local partners for vaccine administration.