BATON ROUGE - Monday, March 29, marks the first day that most of Louisiana's residents are eligible to receive one of the three COVID-19 vaccinations approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

All Louisianans 16 years or older are eligible for the vaccine following news from the federal government that the state's allocation of vaccine doses will significantly increase.

As a result, mass vaccination sites continue to appear across the state.

During the last weekend in March, a total of 2,000 vaccine doses were administered at a vaccination site hosted by Southern University.

During a recent news conference, Governor John Bel Edwards explained the expaned eligibility, saying, "Doesn't matter about health conditions, doesn't matter about occupation. Sixteen years and older will be the determining factor for eligibilitiy. The President announced he wanted us to take this step by May the first. I told you that I thought we would beat that. I didn't realize that we would be doing it quite this soon." 

According to the Louisiana Department of Health, vaccines currently being administered are from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Pfizer and Moderna are two-dose vaccines while Johnson & Johnson is one dose.

All three vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the FDA and proven safe and effective.

While Pfizer is currently the only FDA-approved vaccine acceptable for those ages 16 and 17 years of age, anyone 18 years of age and older is approved to receive either one of the three vaccines.

Click here for a list of locations where residents can receive a vaccine.