SALT LAKE CITY – In anticipation of Utah’s mask term ending April 10, the state plans to make vaccines available to all adults in Utah before April 1, according to a statement from the Governor Spencer Cox’s office Tuesday night.
“Once it became clear that the legislature planned to end the term of the mask immediately and with a majority of veto evidence, our administration worked with them to push back the date to vaccinate as many people as possible,” he said. say Cox spokeswoman Jennifer Napier Pearce. a statement. “We anticipate opening vaccine eligibility to all adults in the state on April 1 and will likely have 1.5 million first doses in the state on April 10.”
Pearce stressed the importance of people still wearing masks and noted that the term will continue after April 10 for schools and large meetings. He also said companies may still require masks past the term.
“Every day we vaccinate more than 25,000 people,” Cox said on the last night of the 2021 legislative session, adding that if the most vulnerable Utahs are vaccinated, “restrictions don’t matter as much.”
“So we won’t go through everyone before the potential mandate of the mask can go away, but we will go through a lot of people,” he said, noting the importance of the remaining mandate for meetings of more than 50 people. And the governor said that if the pandemic takes a turn for the worse, the legislature may enact new restrictions.
A total of 573,525 Utahns have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 319,127 are fully vaccinated, according to the Utah Department of Health. A total of 878,487 vaccines have been administered in the state as of Tuesday.
Chronology of vaccine release
- March 4: Adults over 50 years
- February 25: Utahns aged 16 and over with comorbidities
- February 16: Utahns 65 and older
- January 11: All teachers or staff of the K-12 school
- December 10: Health workers, residents and staff of long-term care centers
Contributing: Ashley Fredde