Denver will break slightly with state vaccine priorities and will give added emphasis to those experiencing homelessness, health officials said Thursday in a news conference in which they stressed the safety of the inoculation.

It was the first news conference attended by Mayor Michael Hancock since he was caught traveling to Mississippi for Thanksgiving.

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He told reporters Thursday that his judgment had failed him and that he didn’t make a good decision in boarding a flight after asking Denverites to stay home.

He said he wouldn’t be traveling or gathering for Christmas. 

He was joined by Bob McDonald, the executive director of the city’s public health department, and Connie Price, the chief medical officer at Denver Health.

The three repeatedly stressed the safety of the vaccine, as health officials across the state and country have emphasized for weeks.

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McDonald noted concern about the speed at which the inoculation was developed, but he said researchers had already been working on a vaccine for another coronavirus disease and that the type of vaccine, which uses a protein from the virus to build immunity, had been around for years.

“Those vaccines were administered to more than 75,000 people who were closely monitored,” McDonald said of the testing undertaken to prove the shot’s safety and efficacy. “There were no serious adverse events that have been reported.” 

The vast majority of side effects are minor and fleeting. They include headaches, muscle aches, fatigue and pain or swelling in the arm, where the vaccine is injected. 

McDonald said the state could reach herd immunity — meaning community-wide protections against the virus — by widespread utilization of the vaccine and “accepting that it’s safe.”

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But he and others emphasized that it would be months before the majority of the public is vaccinated and that it’s vital for people to continue distancing, masking and washing hands.

“We need to stay the course,” he said. “We still have many, many months in front of us, and it would be easy for this virus to get us back into (higher risk levels).” 

The situation has significantly improved in Denver compared to the last time Hancock spoke to the media.

The two-week case rate in the city has dropped by nearly 50% since Nov. 20, and hospital admissions have dropped.

Still, the rate is double what it needs to be before any restrictions can be eased, and McDonald said that based on the current trajectory, that might happen in three to four weeks.

But, like Thanksgiving before it, there are two holidays approaching that could set the area back, if public health measures aren’t followed.

Last week, the state released its priority list of who can get the vaccine and when.

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Unlike a draft plan released by officials earlier in the fall, this final document did not give priority to people living in certain settings such as dorms, prisons or homeless shelters.

But McDonald and other health officials who spoke before the city council on Thursday morning said the city would move people experiencing homelessness and shelter staff to the top of phase two, which is expected to begin in early spring.

“We’re going to prioritize that population just like we have in the beginning,” he said. 

But McDonald said it was “important to be consistent” with the state’s guidelines and he still expected “some differences in phase two and three.” Those differences will be released when they’re finalized.

“As we develop these tiers, it’s going to be based on science and public health,” he said. “It’s not going to be based on politics or who you know.” 

Hancock said there would special attention paid to communities of color, which have been disproportionately affected by the virus.

He said there was often vaccine wariness in those communities, which will be addressed by specific marketing, communication and outreach with organizations and leaders in those communities. 

Price, the Denver Health chief medical officer, said the hospital surveyed its staff and that 70% said they’d receive the vaccine, another 20% were “still thinking about it,” and 10% declined for various reasons.

Statewide polling shows about two-thirds of the residents are willing to receive the vaccine, though officials said earlier this week that they believe the actual share will be higher than that as more Coloradans receive the vaccine and demonstrate its efficacy and safety.