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Starting Monday, COVID-19 vaccination eligibility across Louisiana will be expanding. However it won't be the expansion that many had hoped for, where we would be able to open the vaccines up to every adult in the state.

This new expansion will include all of the previous eligibility levels, and will now include a long list of "essential workers". The previous eligibility included anyone over 16-years-old who had a qualifying medical condition. Those conditions included things like being overweight or being a smoker. In other words, they were pretty broad. Which means that a lot of these newly eligible people likely have already qualified for a vaccine before this new change.

This change will go into effect on Monday, March 22nd. The new eligible professions include:

Higher Education Faculty/Staff
Food & Ag Workers
Food Service Workers
Judiciary Workers
Postal Workers
Manufacturing Workers
Grocery Store Workers
Transportation Workers
Water & Wastewater Workers
Energy Workers
Bank Tellers
Construction Workers
Clergy
IT & Communication Workers
Media
Public Safety Engineers & Other Workers
Public Health Workers
Frontline Government Workers
Child, Youth, & Family Service Workers
Vets and Support Staff
Waste Management Workers
Public and Private Security and Emergency Preparedness Workers

Governor Edwards added that this will likely be the last expansion before vaccines are made available to all Louisiana residents over 16. He did not announce a timeline for that change, but based on the previous expansions, it will probably come within the next two weeks. Meaning that, as the Governor mentioned, Louisiana will likely beat President Joe Biden's goal of making vaccines available to everyone by May 1st.

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