OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma plans to expand coronavirus vaccine eligibility to school employees and adults with underlying health conditions beginning on Feb. 22, state health officials said Thursday.

There are more than 89,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school employees and more than 1 million adults with co-morbidities who are expected to become eligible, said Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed.

“This portion of phase two will likely take some time to complete," Reed said.

Among the underlying medical conditions considered for adults in Oklahoma's vaccine distribution plan are obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung, renal and liver disease.

Oklahoma currently ranks sixth in the nation in vaccine distribution, with 11.1% of the state's population receiving at least the first dose, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national average is 10.2%.

State health officials reported 1,677 confirmed new coronavirus cases and 48 new deaths on Thursday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to 409,401 and the state’s death toll to 3,948. The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday was 872.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases, test positivity rate and daily deaths have all declined over the last two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said both the number of confirmed new cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have declined more than 50% from their peaks earlier this year.

“To see that positive trend of hospitalizations going down, I know it’s a breath of fresh air for our wonderful health care workers, hospital administrators, chief medical officers," Stitt said.

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