Colorado is ramping up who can first qualify for the COVID-19 vaccine to include more elderly people primarily because they are far more at risk of dying from it. As a result, instead of opening up access to the vaccine in the first phase of its rollout to only frontline health-care professionals and other essential workers, the state is adding anyone who is 70 or older. Gov. Jared Polis said that decision was made because about 78% of all deaths in Colorado have been people 70 and older. In Mesa County, that percentage of COVID deaths for older people is closer to 86%, and even higher (95%) when adding people who are 60 and older.