During their weekly COVID-19 press briefing on Thursday, Governor Dan McKee and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, announced that on April 19 the state plans to open up vaccination elgibility to all adults age 16 and over.
This decision, they said, is because they received new information from the federal government about an increase in vaccine allocation to states.
“I think it’s important for Rhode Islanders to know that when we open up eligibility on April 19th, that does not mean everyone will receive a vaccine on April 19,” McKee said. “It will likely take individuals a couple of weeks to make an appointment”.
McKee also said during the press briefing that Today, Dr. Alexander-Scott and he will also be sending a letter to the White House requesting an additional allocation of 50,000 vaccines per week for Rhode Island to help the state meet the President’s goal of getting the first dose to every American by the end of May.
Watch the announcement at below at approximately 8:25;
Previously, this was an estimated timeline of when first doses would be offered to specific groups.
This story is developing and will be updated as more information is received.