BATON ROUGE - As of Monday (March 22), all of Louisiana's essential workers who are 16 years of age and older are eligible to receive any of the U.S.'s three approved COVID-19 vaccinations.

Those included as 'essential workers' include grocery store workers, food service, and government frontline workers.

Governor John Bel Edwards spoke highly of these workers during a recent news address, saying, "Those individuals have carried our state during these trying times and we want to make sure they do, in fact, get the vaccine."

A full list of which employees are viewed as 'essential' is below and more information on the expansion of vaccine eligibility can be viewed here. 

As vaccine eligibility expands, the state's COVID case numbers appear to be decreasing. But health experts recommend cautious optimism and encourage all to continue wearing masks and social distancing.

In its most recent update, the Louisiana Department of Health said that a total of 203 COVID-19 cases have been reported to the state since March 18 and the total number of cases reported to the state is 439,737. 

Eligible essential workers can begin scheduling their vaccinations on Monday.