As Governor Tim Walz announces today that more Minnesotans are eligible for the COVID vaccine — including more people with underlying medical conditions, food-processing workers and essential front-line workers — he says everyone else in the state could be eligible for the vaccine potentially by mid-April. “A little bit of patience and the federal government’s ability to ramp us up more, we’ll get this even done faster. And the next time I’m here to announce the next lane that’s in, is basically the rest — the rest of Minnesota. That’s how close we are,” Walz says.
House Republican Minority Leader Kurt Daudt says, with the governor apparently ready to allow some fans again at Target Field, “If it’s good for the Twins, then it’s good for everybody else. So we can’t just allow one thing to re-open. We have to make sure that we’ve got a fair system for all of the businesses.” Daudt says small businesses, event centers and other venues, plus large events, should now be allowed to re-open.
Essential front-line workers who will now be eligible for the COVID vaccine: agricultural, airport staff, additional child care workers, correctional settings, first responders, food production, food retail and food service, judicial system workers, manufacturing, public health workers, public transit and the U-S Postal Service.