Another 21 deaths reported Wednesday
SALT LAKE CITY — The initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine has been slower than anticipated in Utah, state health officials reported on Wednesday.
About 23,970 vaccines have been administered, though there is a 24-hour reporting requirement from hospitals, health departments and other partners who are administering the vaccines, meaning that the actual number of people who have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is higher, said Rich Lakin, Utah Department of Health Immunization Program director.
“Because we have less of the vaccine, it is pushing the timeline back a bit,” he said. The state will soon be offering the COVID-19 vaccine to tens of thousands of teachers, who were singled out as a priority group earlier in December.
The federal government has sent 40% fewer doses than the state had initially asked for, leaving hospitals, clinics and some pharmacies lacking.
The state, Lakin said, receives what it can from government distribution efforts and then must allocate that to locations with the highest prioritized patients and health care workers to receive them.
“We have to ensure that we spread it out in a way that we know they can use it,” he said. “The speed of them vaccinating is quicker than we can provide them with supply.”
So far, the greatest number of vaccines has been offered to hospital workers who come into contact with COVID-19 patients on a daily basis. The state has already moved down the list of “phase one prioritization” to begin vaccinating staff and residents at long-term health care facilities throughout Utah.
Lakin said “anybody who has direct care to patients,” including emergency medical technicians, paramedics and emergency medical systems personnel, as well as firefighters and police officers, can make an appointment with their local health departments to be vaccinated.
“We are starting to see this vaccine roll out a lot quicker,” he said.
The Davis County Health Department facilitated the vaccination of 1,000 people on Tuesday and expects to reach 5,000 doses by the end of the week, as the health department reports it can vaccinate people in 28 cars at a time at its drive-thru clinic in Clearfield.
And the Utah County Health Department vaccinated 600 emergency services personnel on Tuesday alone.
Lakin expects that the next phase of Utah’s vaccination program will begin later than anticipated, as early as mid-February. It means vaccinations will then be available for Utah residents 75 and older — a group of about 146,000 people who exhibit the highest percentage of willingness to get the vaccine, or 83%.
The state’s vaccine coalition, which advises who can be vaccinated in Utah and when, will then add subsequent waves of prioritized people, including additional age groups, people with underlying medical conditions, residents in congregate living situations and tribal communities, and at-risk racial and ethnic populations.
Another 2,614 cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday by the health department, bringing the total number of known infections in the state to 271,940.
The average percent of positive tests, however, is 25%, indicating a large portion of illness is still going undetected.
More than 1.7 million people in Utah have been tested for COVID-19, the disease that is caused by the novel coronavirus, and 9,130 of those were tested since Tuesday’s reports were issued.
There are 484 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout Utah and the state reported another 21 deaths caused by the pandemic illness, bringing the death toll to 1,256 since mid-March.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
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