Type 1 Diabetes Patients Become Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccine in 12+ States

March 5, 2021

The Colorado Department of Health along with 11 other states just raised vaccination eligibility requirements for type 1 diabetes patients as a “high risk” group (2, 3). In Colorado, anyone between the ages of 16-64 who have T1 diabetes and one other high-risk condition will be eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine as early as today, March 5. They will be included in the 1B.3 vaccine group (1). This comes after Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) extensive lobbying efforts to list T1 diabetes as a high-risk condition alongside T2 diabetes (2).

As of now, the CDC’s vaccine recommendation includes frontline essential workers and people 75 years and older in Phase 1B. Persons 65 years and older and those at high risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms are included in Phase 1C. This can be seen as encouraging news for the autoimmune disease community, as health authorities begin taking certain high-risk autoimmune diseases into account for vaccination priority. The rollout of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine will undoubtedly aid these efforts by increasing vaccine availability. 

To find vaccine eligibility and prioritization criteria by state, view this resource by Kaiser Family Foundation.