Gov. Reynolds.
Governor Kim Reynolds today said federal officials indicate the State of Iowa will receive about 25,000 more doses of Covid vaccine next week compared to the state’s allotment for the past two weeks.
The governor indicated vaccine supply is expected to continue to increase next month. “With this news, I am pleased to say that we remain on target to open vaccination to all Iowans beginning Monday, April 5,” Reynolds said during a late morning news conference.
More than half a million Iowans have been fully vaccinated so far, but there are still about 1.2 million Iowans who haven’t been able to get their shots.
“Once again there is going to be more demand than supply at first, just as we’ve experienced each time eligibility was expanded, so please be patient,” Reynolds said. “As our weekly allocations continue to increase, so will the number of appointments available and soon there will be enough vaccine for everyone.”
Federal officials say the state should get 128,000 first doses of vaccine next week. That includes 18,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson-and-Johnson vaccine and those doses will be given to employees in designated industries like manufacturing and food processing. Reynolds said Pfizer is working on plans to reduce the number of doses in each shipment from 1000 down to 250.
“That will be really instrumental in helping us to distribute and meet the need that we’re seeing,” Reynolds said.
With fewer doses contained in each shipment, Reynolds said the Pfizer vaccine can be sent to smaller community pharmacies and doctor’s offices in rural areas which today cannot dispense a thousand doses in the time required.