Governor Polis Discusses White House COVID Briefing, Shares State Vaccination Update

Press Release

Today, Governor Polis provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic and discussed a meeting between himself, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients and Colorado's COVID Response team. Governor Polis requested a meeting with Jeff Zients in order to ensure that the federal COVID-19 response discussions taking place in Washington, D.C. also take into account the needs of Coloradans.

"I had a productive conversation with White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients where I had the opportunity to advocate for additional federal support for Colorado as we fight this pandemic," said Governor Polis. "We have critical prevention tools in place like mask distribution and regular testing programs, but if we're going to really put this pandemic behind us, we need more Coloradans to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated."

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for Coloradans aged 16 and up.

While speaking with Governor Polis, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients outlined the Biden administration's short-term COVID-19 response priorities:

Getting shots into as many unvaccinated arms as possible

Preparing for distribution of the booster shot to all eligible Americans 12 and older

Helping states manage the Delta variant, whether that be with hospital staff, capacity or antibody treatment

As the Biden administration works to carry out its COVID-19 response priorities, Governor Polis advocated for two immediate steps to be taken to benefit Coloradans. Governor Polis called for the ability to administer flu shots using the same infrastructure being used to administer COVID-19 booster shots. Additionally, Gov. Polis requested that several bureaucratic hurdles related to COVID-19 testing be eliminated as they are preventing Colorado from easily accessing and administering COVID-19 tests.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Zients complimented Colorado's COVID-19 vaccination and testing success during his discussion with Governor Polis. As of today, 73% of Coloradans aged 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine

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