MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – On Thursday, the Department of Health Services released new guidelines to determine who is eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine when the award can be extended later this month.
Unlike previous rounds, which are mainly determined by age or occupation, this last one is based only on medical history, more specifically if someone has a medical condition associated with a higher risk of serious illnesses than he would COVID-19 opdoen.
To be eligible for this latest extension, an individual must have at least one of the 20 medical conditions that appear on a list released by the agency on Thursday. According to DHS, more than two million people in Wisconsin will be eligible.
Three of the conditions listed are linked to the body mass index (BMI), a statistic that is often cited to determine whether someone is overweight or obese. With the new criteria, anyone with a BMI of more than 25 kg / m2 will be eligible to receive the vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention provides a tool to help people estimate their BMI by entering their height and weight. It defines a BMI between 25 and 30 as ‘overweight’, while something older than 30 is ‘obese’. In addition, a number of over 40 are considered ‘severely obese’ for DHS’s offerings.
The full list of medical conditions that would determine if anyone is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine is available here.
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