Friday, March 19, marks the beginning of Colorado’s penultimate vaccine priority group. It’s also the largest group yet, with as many as 2.5 million people included, state officials have said.

This push is the last targeted vaccine effort. In roughly a month, the state will fully open the doors to every Coloradan to receive a vaccine. It’s at a faster clip than the state had anticipated in December, when officials said they didn’t expect the general public to be eligible until the summer. Now, Gov. Jared Polis is floating an end to mask orders and a relatively normal summer season.

In the meantime, Friday’s group is sprawling. So who exactly is in it? When can they expect to get the vaccine? And how do they sign up? 

“With more residents becoming eligible on Friday, we urge every resident who now qualifies to get vaccinated as soon as they can,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Who?

Beginning Friday, the state will launch phase 1B.4. It gives priority, generally speaking, to four populations.

First, eligibility will be open for those who are 50 and older. As the state’s list stands right now, this is the final age-bracketed priority group, though Polis has hinted that the general population may be age-segmented further, depending on supply. 

Second, eligibility will also be open for those between the ages of 16 and 49 who have at least one of roughly 20 conditions. Those conditions include:

• Any that was covered in phase 1B.3: cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, Down syndrome, serious heart conditions, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, organ transplants, those with disabilities who either receive care at home or who cannot wear a mask;
• Asthma, pulmonary fibrosis or cystic fibrosis;
• Cerebrovascular disease, high blood pressure or hypertension;
• A weakened immune system from blood or bone marrow transplants; an autoimmune disease or condition; or from medications that weaken the immune system;
• HIV;
• The use of corticosteroids;
• Neurological conditions like dementia;
• Liver disease; or
• Thalassemia.

Third, a wide variety of essential workers will also become eligible. That group includes people working in:

• Food and restaurant services;
• Higher-education and are in close contact with other people, particularly indoors;
• Manufacturing;
• The U.S. postal service;
• Public and specialized transportation;
• Public health and human services, as well as those who provide care to the homeless;
• Faith leaders; and
• Journalists.

And finally, this newest phase will also include local and state government officials who have been deemed essential to the continuity of government services and administration.

When?

This latest priority phase will begin Friday. But if you’re reading this on Thursday, you can already begin signing up on waiting lists. 

As has been the case since the beginning, eligibility opening on a certain day does not mean that every eligible person will be vaccinated that day. Previous priority groups have taken a few weeks before a majority of that group has received at least their first dose. Even then, after the next eligibility group gets the green light, there are often still people from previous groups on the waiting list. Health officials have urged patience.

Where?

As the priority groups have evolved and the vaccine distribution process has moved forward, the state has tweaked how eligible Coloradans can sign up.

A map and list of providers whom you can contact to set an appointment can be found here. Note that if you go through a hospital or health system, you don’t need to have been a patient there to enroll. Some hospitals do require that you sign up for their online patient portal first. 

Those over 50 years old and those with pre-existing conditions should contact a provider – either their own or another – to get on a list. Polis has said previously that personal providers for chronically ill Coloradans should take an active role in helping their patients sign up.

Essential workers can go directly to providers, or they can contact their employers for more information. 

In addition to public health agencies and hospitals, those eligible for the vaccine can contact pharmacies who’ve partnered with the federal government to administer doses. Those pharmacies include Walmart, Safeway, Sam’s Club, Cardinal and City Market/King Soopers. Go to vaccinefinder.org to check availability and get signed up for a pharmacy appointment.

On top of those options, the state is also in the process of standing up six mass vaccination sites across Colorado. Those sites are:

• The Grand Junction Convention Center;
• The Broadmoor World Arena;
• Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City;
• The Ranch Events Complex in Loveland;
• The state fairgrounds in Pueblo; and
• Ball Arena in Denver.

Information on how to sign up for an appointment at these sites can also be found here, near the top of the page and directly under the map. Note that because some of these sites haven’t been fully established, they don’t yet have information on how to schedule appointments.

Why now?

The state has been able to speed up its distribution process, most notably with the news that it would open it up to the general public in April, for two main reasons. First, the overall shipment sizes have increased steadily for weeks. The state will receive hundreds of thousands of doses each week in April, as Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson all step up their productions.

Second, Polis and others have said the federal government has been able to give better guidance on how large shipments will be in the near future. That, they’ve said, gives them the ability to better plan for next vaccine phase and, in turn, announce those plans to the public. 

Who’s next?

Come mid-April, every Coloradan will become eligible to receive the vaccine, and Polis has said that by the end of May, everyone who wants to be inoculated will have had the opportunity to do so. 

Phase 1B.4 is unlikely to have been fully completed by the time the general population becomes eligible. But that’s been the case throughout the distribution process: Polis and the state Department of Public Health and Environment have regularly opened up the pool to the next before one phase is entirely complete. That, they’ve said, is to ensure that vaccines are still moving out the door at a quick pace, rather than slowing and waiting for any stragglers.

But Polis has also said that providers can continue to give priority to previous groups, even once eligibility has moved past them. So even though the general public will get the green light in April, providers still have the choice to give priority to one of the several priority groups that came before.