NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee today announced all Tennessee adults will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination no later than April 5. Tennesseans aged 55 and older and those in Phase 2 of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations effective Mar. 18.
Governor Lee shared the announcement in a video this morning, which you can watch here: https://www.facebook.com/GovBillLee/videos/753448335309638. By April 5, all Tennesseans age 16 and over will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Eligibility for those in Phase 3 of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan will run concurrently with age-based eligibility. Phase 3 includes residents and staff members of congregate living facilities including college dormitories, group homes and shelters and those in the corrections system. Phase 3 also includes grocery store workers who were not eligible for vaccination based on previous age or risk-based categories. To help ensure vaccines are available to these populations, direct allocations of vaccines will be made to these facilities.
Tennessee continues to see increasing supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, which allows the state to rapidly accelerate eligibility to receive the vaccination. TDH requests every dose of COVID-19 vaccine made available to the state:
- 2.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to Tennessee providers to date
- Expecting approximately 311,000 vaccine doses week of March 22
- Expecting new allocations of Johnson and Johnson vaccine week of March 29, which will increase weekly supplies by 30 percent
“As we’ve promised, we’re able to expand our COVID-19 vaccine eligibility as vaccine supplies have increased and we’ve made substantial progress in protecting those most at risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19,” said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP. “Tennessee will now open COVID-19 vaccination to all eligible adults well ahead of the federal goal of May 1.”
Expanding COVID-19 Vaccination Eligibility
Effective Mar. 18, Tennesseans aged 55 and older and those in Phase 2 of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan are eligible. Phase 2 includes those who work in settings that have experienced high numbers of COVID-19 infection clusters, and whose work is critical to continuing vital state operations. These groups include:
- Child welfare and adult protective services agency workers with direct public exposure
- Commercial food manufacturing workers
- Commercial agriculture workers involved in production and safety of food supplies and commodities
- Corrections system workers not previously covered under Phase 1a1
- Public transit drivers and maintenance personnel
- People working in other transportation, public infrastructure, telecommunications and utility industries
