COVID-19 vaccination enters Phase 1B.4 on March 19

Final phase before it becomes available to general public

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Having COVID-19 illness does not guarantee against getting sick from it again in the future. It is rare, but there have been more than 800 documented second infection cases in Colorado.

Local health officials continue to encourage people to get the vaccine when they are eligible, even if they have already had COVID-19 and recovered. People who are currently sick with the virus should wait until after they have recovered to get the vaccine. Those who received antibody or plasma treatment for COVID-19 should wait 90 days before vaccination.

Colorado is moving rapidly to expand eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines. Beginning Friday, March 19, the state will move to Phase 1B.4, which is the final phase that limits vaccine eligibility before the vaccines become available to the general public.

Phase 1B.4 is a broad phase which includes people age 50 and older; frontline workers in higher education, manufacturing, US postal services, public transit and specialized transportation, public health, human services, faith leaders, direct care providers for Coloradans experiencing homelessness, and journalists; continuity of local and state government; adults who received a placebo during a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial; and people age 16 to 49 with at least one higher risk condition.

More details about who becomes eligible at Phase 1B.4 can be found at https://covid19.colorado.gov/for-coloradans/vaccine/find-out-when-youre-eligible-for-a-covid-19-vaccine.


To sign up for a vaccine, contact your local public health agency, pharmacy, hospital, or Valley-Wide Health Systems. Online vaccine signup links and phone contacts for these providers can be found at www.slvphp.com/vaccination. If you have an appointment and you can’t make it, call to cancel so that no vaccine is wasted.

All counties in the San Luis Valley are currently in Level Blue on the COVID-19 Dial. More information about the Dial is available at www.slvphp.com.