Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Pharmacist­s report strong demand for vaccine in state

- ANDY DAVIS

Pharmacist­s and other providers continued reporting strong demand for the Arkansas’ limited supply of coronaviru­s vaccine on Wednesday as the state’s count of cases grew by 2,520.

The state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the state Department of Health, rose 55, to 4,441.

Meanwhile, after rising slightly a day earlier, the number of people hospitaliz­ed in the state with covid-19 fell 86, to 1,179 — its lowest level so far this year.

The number of hospitaliz­ed patients has mostly fallen since it peaked at 1,371 on Jan. 11.

CHI St. Vincent said Wednesday it temporaril­y closed community vaccine clinics at its hospitals in Little Rock and Hot Springs after administer­ing 2,000 shots to Arkansans 70 and older and to school and child care center employees on Monday and Tuesday, exhausting its supply of initial doses.

“Those still interested in receiving the vaccine are encouraged to register online,” the health system said in a Facebook post.

Harps Food Stores, which is offering the vaccine at 15 pharmacies in the state, announced Wednesday its appointmen­ts had been booked through February.

“We ask for your patience as there are over 440,000 people eligible in the current vaccine phase in the state of Arkansas and only 30,000 doses of the vaccine are coming into the state each week,” Robert Acord, the grocery chain’s director of pharmacy, said.

Arkansans 70 and older and school and child care center employees — all population groups that fall under Phase 1-B of the state’s vaccinatio­n plan — officially became eligible for the shots Monday, although some providers started providing them last week.

The shots had already been available to health care workers, first-responders and workers and residents at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities under Phase 1-A of the plan.

Frontline “essential workers,” such as those working in factories and grocery stores, also fall under Phase 1-B of the state’s plan but won’t be eligible for shots until later.

MORE SHOTS GIVEN

As of Wednesday morning, the Health Department reported the state received 312,225 doses of vaccine, of which 164,699 had been administer­ed.

The number administer­ed represente­d an increase of 17,090 doses compared to a day earlier.

In addition, Walgreens and CVS reported administer­ing 6,816 doses to residents and workers at long-term care facilities in the state as part of a federal program, up from 6,626 doses a day earlier.

The Health Department initially reported the two companies had been allocated 80,700 doses for long-term care facilities in Arkansas.

But department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said Wednesday that number was incorrect.

The actual number, he said, is 49,400 — a number that hasn’t changed since it increased from 24,700 on Jan. 14.

Col. Robert Ator, who is coordinati­ng Arkansas’ vaccine effort, said Tuesday the two chains won’t end up needing all of the vaccines they have been allocated for the long-term care facilities and the state is working to make about 30,000 of the doses available to the broader population now eligible for the shots.

ARKANSAS RANKED NO. 15

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 144,792 Arkansans — about 4.8% of population — received at least one dose of the two vaccines’ twodose regimens as of Wednesday.

That was the 15th-highest percentage in the country among states and the District of Columbia.

Alaska had the highest percentage — 7.8% — followed by West Virginia (7.4%) and North Dakota (6.3%).

Arkansas also ranked 11th in the percentage receiving both doses.

The CDC reported 26,541 Arkansans, or 0.9% of the population, fell into that category.

Alaska also ranked first in that regard, with 1.5% of its population having received both doses.

Pharmacies and other providers have three days to report the shots they administer.

State Epidemiolo­gist Jennifer Dillaha said the reporting in Arkansas has recently improved as more pharmacist­s have begun providing the informatio­n by uploading spreadshee­ts into an online tracking system.

SUPPLIES TO INCREASE

Although newly sworn-in President Joe Biden pledged to speed up vaccine shipments to states, Dillaha said she hadn’t yet heard as of Wednesday of any changes in how much Arkansas will be getting.

Next week, the state expects to receive enough doses to provide the initial shots to about 18,600 people using the Moderna vaccine and 18,525 with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

That’s the same amount the state received this week.

The state will also receive doses to provide the booster shots for people who received their initial shots earlier.

Dillaha said the Biden administra­tion announced it will increase the amount of equipment, such as syringes and protective gear, a federal contractor ships to providers for the administra­tion of the Pfizer vaccine.

The contractor has been supplying enough of the equipment for providers to administer five doses per vial of the vaccine, but “most places are able to get six or seven doses per vial, so they were running low on needles and syringes,” Dillaha said.

ACTIVE CASES FALL

The increase in cases Wednesday was slightly higher than the 2,467 cases added to the state’s tallies a week earlier on Jan. 13.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted a drop in the number of cases in the state considered active.

That number fell 549, to 20,391, as 3,014 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.

“This is the fourth consecutiv­e day of a decline, and we have over 4,700 fewer active cases than this time last week,” Hutchinson said. “It’s up to each of us to ensure we stay on this trend and defeat this virus.”

Although it increased slightly Wednesday, to 2,013, the average number of cases added to the state’s tallies over a rolling seven-day period remained well below its peak of 3,086 as of Jan. 10.

“I see a ray of sunshine here because the new cases, I guess they’re a little higher than a week ago but they’re well under 3,000, which I’m very happy to see,” Dillaha said.

She also pointed to the decline in active cases as “a good thing because those are the number of people who are likely infectious right now.”

While not all infections are diagnosed, “my hope is that’s an indicator for cases overall in the state,” Dillaha said.

The “nice drop in hospitaliz­ations” was also welcome news, she said.

“They’re well under 1,200 and I’m very happy about that,” Dillaha said.

The number of covid-19 patients who were on ventilator­s rose Wednesday by three, to 212, while the number who were in intensive care units fell eight, to 388.

Both measures remained well below the highs they reached Jan. 11: 268 for the number on ventilator­s and 458 for the number in intensive care units.

CASES BY COUNTY

The cases added to the state’s tallies Wednesday included 1,490 confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.

The other 1,030 were “probable” cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.

The state’s cumulative count of cases rose to 276,114.

That comprised 222,287 confirmed cases and 53,827 probable ones.

Pulaski County had the largest number of new cases, 296, followed by Washington County, which had 230; Benton County, which had 172; Sebastian County, which had 133; and Faulkner County, which had 115.

Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department’s count of cases rose by four.

Department of Correction­s spokesman Cindy Murphy said the state didn’t have any new cases reported Wednesday among inmates at state prisons.

The state’s death toll rose 36, to 3,657, among confirmed cases and by 19, to 784, among probable cases.

Among nursing home and assisted living facility residents, the state’s count of virus deaths grew 18, to 1,779.

The number of people who have ever been hospitaliz­ed with the virus in the state rose 131, to 12,982.

The number who have ever been on a ventilator grew by six, to 1,374.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States