Gov. Jared Polis said Friday he was “shocked we were lied t…

NOW: Gov. Jared Polis, who today said Colorado was “lied to” by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services about promised vaccine shipments, is giving an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/CiWBfluw7U #COVID19Colorado

Gov. Polis: Today I come before you extremely disappointed that we were lied to by plans from the administration to get second doses.

“There is no federal reserve of doses,” Polis said, explaining the state was expecting 210,000 doses next week. Colorado will only get 79,000.

Polis now providing a timeline on the number of doses starting Jan. 25-31 until Feb. 21.

“We have been misled before but we're expecting (doses) to go up to 90-100K” in the early days of February.

Watch live: https://t.co/CiWBfluw7U #COVID19Colorado

Gov. Polis says he “hopeful” that President-elect Joe Biden's
100 million doses in 100 days” goal will be a reality.

He said Colorado has achieved its goal to vaccine those in Phase 1A by Jan. 15.

"By and large, the priority is 70 and up,” Polis says.

Here’s a slide regarding the current vaccine distribution phase in Colorado.

“Vaccines are our path back to the Colorado we know and love,” Polis says, adding the more people that get vaccinated, the faster it will be for people to return to their jobs and our way of life.

Polis now highlighting some of the resources meant to help small businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Watch live: https://t.co/CiWBfluw7U

Important to note: Polis reiterates the COVID-19 vaccine is free for everybody in Colorado.

On Tuesday, Polis was asked by a Univision reporter if undocumented immigrants could also get the vaccine; Polis says the vaccine was for everybody.

“We’re in the home stretch now,” Polis says, adding Coloradans should continue wearing masks, avoiding gatherings, maintaining 6 feet distance and washing hands for at least 20 seconds.

Watch live: https://t.co/CiWBfluw7U

Now onto Q&A.

Polis is asked about the Washington Post report that there is no stockpile reserve of vaccine doses.

"I’m not going to cast aspersions. My guess is it’s gross incompetence,” Polis says.

Earlier, Polis was asked if Colorado would have been ahead of schedule if the state had received the 210,000 doses it was expecting next week.

Polis responded by saying Colorado would have likely have had 50-70% of the 70+ age group vaccinated by the end of next week.

Polis is asked by @joe_vacc about State protocol for protecting the vaccine, given at least 165 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were ruined followig a power outage at the Kaiser Permanente facility in Lakewood.

More on that here: https://t.co/0pxbgeQTc8

@joe_vacc Polis answers the question by responding “there will be freak events” that cause COVID-19 vaccines to become unusable, but “we’re not going to require every place has a backup power system.”

@joe_vacc Polis announces Executive Order:

There will be no co-pay or fees for the COVID-19 vaccine.

@joe_vacc This concludes today’s news conference, where Polis talked about the state’s current progress on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution list.

We’ll be updating all that information here: https://t.co/1wsnKVjDM6 #COVID19Colorado

@joe_vacc Gov. Polis said he now hopes Colorado can vaccinate 70% of people age 70 and up by the end of February. He declined to blame the administration for nefarious actions. “I’m not going to cast aspersions. My guess is it’s gross incompetence,” he said. https://t.co/qusUQGb7el

Gov. Jared Polis said Friday he was “shocked we were lied to” after The Washington Post reported that there is no stockpile reserve of vaccine doses that the HHS secretary promised earlier this week would soon be released. He has a news conference at 12:30

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