Vaccinations, including Johnson & Johnson, to continue this weekend in Aspen

Pitkin County’s vaccination rollout continues Friday and Sunday and will include the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, officials said Tuesday.

On Friday, public health officials will dole out 130 first doses and 108 second doses of the Moderna vaccine, as well as 1,170 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine, according to Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock and county spokeswoman Tracy Trulove.

Then on Sunday, public health officials will provide the first 1,500 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Peacock told county commissioners Tuesday during their regular weekly work session. The state of Colorado has requested 45,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, he said.

All vaccines will be provided at the Benedict Music Tent parking lot.

Pitkin County is currently working toward vaccinating residents 60 and older, front-line workers at grocery stores and in agriculture as well as residents between the ages of 16 and 59 with two or more high-risk health conditions, Peacock said.

The state recently issued new guidelines on vaccine priorities, which means some groups were moved further down the list. However, Pitkin County already started vaccinating some members of those groups, including utility, transit and postal workers, and will provide second shots to those groups later this month, he said.

“There are lots of changes coming from the state in terms of our vaccination priorities,” Peacock said.

So far, Pitkin County has doled out 6,643 vaccine doses, including more than 4,774 first doses and 1,869 second doses, he said. That includes 3,843 residents and 2,800 nonresidents, many of whom work in the county, Peacock said.

County officials will host an online community meeting Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. that will mainly focus on vaccinations, according to Peacock and Trulove. It also will include an epidemiology update, according to the agenda.

The online webinar can be accessed by the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81982180686?pwd=b2VlU3hwamtob2Y5bWsvQ2Zac3ljQT09.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday that the state has reached its goal of vaccinating 70% of residents aged 70 years and older.

“This is an important milestone for our state and has taken all of us — in every corner of our state — working together to get shots into the arms of some of our most vulnerable Coloradans,” Polis said in a news release Tuesday. “We’ve also made critical strides in vaccinating educators, Coloradans 65+, health care workers and first responders.”

After receiving the 45,500 Johnson & Johnson doses this week, the state isn’t expected to get more next week, Polis said in the release. However, more are expected later this month.

“Colorado is planning for an increase in J&J doses starting in late March,” he said. “The Biden Administration expects 5 to 6 million doses of the J&J vaccine to be distributed by the spring.”

Colorado’s supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines also is expected to increase this month, the release says.

“This should mean an increase of over 11,500 doses for Colorado for about 256,880 doses next week,” the release states.

By mid-March, the state’s supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is expected to increase even more, according to the release.