On Monday, Senate Republicans released their “Seniors 1st” plan, and we urged Governor Walz to place seniors as the first priority in his updated vaccination plans. The Governor announced that 35,000 doses of the COVID vaccine would be sent to 100 additional sites across the state, allocated specifically for seniors. It was also announced the nine pilot sites throughout the state would be decreased to three under the Governor’s updated plan.  

Minnesota must start putting our seniors first. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have known that our seniors are our most vulnerable and have accounted for nearly 90% of COVID-related deaths. Despite this readily available information, the Governor’s administration had moved the targets for our vaccination plan, at times prioritizing other groups over our elderly and often making the process difficult or inaccessible.  We need to ensure that any senior who wants the vaccine has access to it and that they remain our priority.

 As of February 1, there have been over 6,000 COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota. Of those, 90% have been attributed to seniors 65 and older. The state has distributed more than 444,000 vaccines, yet only 25% have been allocated to Minnesotans 65 and older. The “Seniors 1st” plan proposed by Sen. Housley would move towards blanketing the entire states with vaccine sites through community pharmacies already equipped to store, schedule, and administer vaccinations.  

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Watch the press conference here.