With the United States likely a week away from widespread distribution of a Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot, Colorado is ready to begin rolling out a large-scale campaign to get those shots into the arms of those most vulnerable to the virus.

Booster shots are already available to those who are immunocompromised or have a weakened immune system. According to Gov. Jared Polis, 2.4% of Coloradans have gotten a third dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna shot.

Speaking at a COVID-19 briefing on Monday afternoon, Polis indicated he anticipates demand for a third shot will to begin spike, with the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention poised to approve a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine. That’s according to White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, who also indicated on a Sept. 6 appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that approval of a third dose of the Moderna vaccine would likely come after.

Even with that increased demand, Polis’ top COVID-19 lieutenants said  Monday that Colorado has enough distribution capacity to handle an influx of those seeking a third Pfizer dose on top of the state’s current efforts to get vaccines to the 25% of the eligible population who remain unvaccinated.

According to Lt. Col. Jamie Pieper of the Colorado National Guard, a senior adviser for COVID-19 vaccination, estimates gauging demand levels if 100% of the eligible population sought out a booster, while 50% of the unvaccinated got their shots still come in well under Colorado’s capacity of nearly 646,000 shots per week.

“It doesn’t mean that we are expecting 100% of people to get it on that schedule, or even the 50% of the unvaccinated,” Polis said. “We just want to be ready.”

Polis indicated the state plans to set up small- to mid-scale drive-thru vaccination sites in metro areas once the booster shots are authorized. Otherwise, he said, the Pfizer booster would be available through the same providers who administered the first two doses of the vaccine.

While that may create a crunch to get a booster for the general public, the governor also unveiled a plan to get the third shot to residents of long-term care facilities.

According to Pieper, the focus of that plan mirrors the initial vaccine rollout with a focus on “our most vulnerable population.” Pieper said the state is working with senior and assisted living facilities to set up partnership with vaccine providers and planned to offer booster clinics for residents and staff as soon as Sept. 20 and no later than mid-October, pending recommendations from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice.

Pieper said the rollout plan also included standing up booster clinics for the 1,238 community-based organizations who offered second-dose vaccine clinics as well as jobsite-based booster clinics for frontline workers. She added the number of booster doses assigned to long-term care facilities are not figured into the calculus on the state’s overall capacity.

Polis closed out the briefing in an unexpected fashion: with praise for former President Donald Trump and encouragement that President Joe Biden follow in his footsteps.

The comment came as Polis was expressing frustration with the FDA – which he said “needs to get out of their ivory tower and realize there’s a real life pandemic with 900 hospitalizations in Colorado” – over the speed with which the agency has gone about approving booster shots.

“There’s a lot that President Trump got wrong about the pandemic but there’s also something very important he got right, and when he got to right about the pandemic was Operation Warp Speed,” Polis said, praising the Trump administration’s efforts to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of a vaccine. “The FDA would have sat on and delayed the life-saving vaccine for many more months at the cost tens or hundreds of thousands of American lives had he not acted to reduce the bureaucracy and paperwork and make the life-saving vaccine available quicker.

“This is a moment where similar leadership is needed by the Biden administration to make sure that the FDA does not succeed in using ivory tower circular reasoning to further delay the life-saving booster.”