COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Starting on Thursday, central Ohioans who are 50 years old and up can get their vaccines; this includes people with type two diabetes.

According to Dr. Mysheika Roberts Health Director for Columbus Public Health, she says she is thrilled to have our black and brown communities being prioritized.

“I had been advocating to get more minorities vaccinated for some time and get the criteria changed. I’ve been talking to the governor, talking to the chief medical officer, our mayor. I was shocked at how quickly they moved to it, but I was happy that they finally decided to make an effort to reach more minorities in our community,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts.

She says in this new phase, it will reach and protect more people of color with 96 percent of Latinos and 92 percent of African Americans under the age of 65.

NBC 4 did ask Dr. Mysheika Roberts if she saw any challenges moving forward to reach these communities and said there are some challenges. From translational barriers to making sure the information is spread.

She says right now, one of the new changes she is seeing is as those 50 and up are now eligible, more people are making appointments online to schedule their vaccine appointments.

“We’re also finding that as we drop the age of who is eligible, we are finding more people

are going online to find appointments vs calling. We have to make sure our internet there is strong and application is strong to handle that call volume,” said Dr. Roberts.

Lair Marin Marcum with the Columbus Hispanic Chamber of Commerce says though there are those barriers, as someone in the Latino community, she has seen the health department working vigorously with their Hispanic local organizations to reach the underserved. She says it’s also up to the community to do their part.

“I think that people just need to look for it. Yes. Sometimes our community is a little handicapped in looking for information. But it’s finding ways and it’s word of mouth,” said Larin Marin Marcum with the Columbus Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

For people who want to help address more of their community, the Columbus Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will be having a virtual Coffee meeting on March 10th at 12 pm.