Vaccine distribution on track, officials say
Governor says delay in shipmentswon’t have an outsized effect.
Distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in Ohio is on track, said Gov. Mike DeWine and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Saturday, despite recent reports of decreased vaccine shipments.
OnFriday, an Ohio Department ofHealth spokeswoman told this newspaper that Ohio will receive 130,600 fewer doses of the Pfizer vaccine thismonththan expected, a 48% decrease. In spite of this and reports that other states will receive fewer doses, the time it takes to distribute the vaccine means a slight delay in shipments will not have an outsized effect, according to DeWine.
“(It) does not appear that number that we’re now being told -(it) is not going to slow us up in regard to the nursing homes,” he said. “We are on track there.”
The pharmacy companies distributing the vaccines in Ohio to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes estimate it will take about three to four weeks to distribute vaccines once they receive them, DeWine said.
According to a newly unveiled dashboard from the Ohio
Department of Health, as of Saturday, 4,536 Ohioans had received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, a two-dose regiment. That’s less than 1% of the state’s population.
The remarks cameduring a press conference held Saturday after Adams met with DeWine and other Ohio leaders virtually to discuss Ohio’s pandemic mitigation efforts and plan for vaccine distribution.
“As the governor said, it is our desire, our commitment, our goal fromthe federal level to get asmuch vaccine out as quickly as we can,” Adams said. “I want people to understand this is the biggest logistical undertaking from a public health perspective, likely inmodern history ... Andwe still are on track, especially with emergency authorization of the Moderna vaccines we just heard about in the last 24 hours, which will increase the expected vaccine allocations next week.”
TheFoodandDrugAdministration authorized emergency use of the COVID vaccine produced byModerna on Friday.
Adams said the country is on track to deliver approximately 20 million doses of the two vaccines by the end of the month to states.
Ohio is scheduled to receive a shipment of 201,000 Moderna vaccines on Tuesday and 89,000 from Moderna by the end of December. The first shipment will go to 98 hospitals and 108 health departments to vaccinate frontlineworkers. PremierHealth expects nearly 6,000 doses of the vaccinenextweekandPublic Health-Dayton & Montgomery County is anticipating it will receive about 3,100 doses.
In response to reports that hospitals elsewhere in the country have been accused of not equitably distributing their allotted vaccines to the frontline employees who need it most, DeWine and Adams said they have trust in the hospital systems.
“We made it very clear who’s supposed to get it,” DeWine. “We have trust in hospitals and we think that it’s going togowell. Is it possible that insome cases, someone will get it, who doesn’t fall within that category, yes, I suppose it certainly is very possible. Butwe also have an obligation toget thisout, very effectively, efficiently and quickly. And so micromanagement at a high degree is notwhat is called for (when) trying to save lives.”
Adams agreed micromanagementwould slowthe process down.
“You’re going to have oneoffs,” Adams said. “This vaccine is in high demand and we have to give some flexibility to people on the local level ... But it’s important to also understand that every hospital in every state is going to have to make tough decisions and sometimes different decisions.”
Also Saturday, DeWine announced that the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services approved a waiver Saturday morning allowing the Ohio National Guard to administer vaccines to the general public.