Governor Reynolds.
Governor Kim Reynolds has set a goal of getting 65% of eligible Iowans vaccinated against Covid by the end of May and hitting the 75% mark in June.
“Those are kind of some metrics, benchmarks that we’re putting in place,” Reynolds told reporters late this morning, “and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to drive those numbers.”
State officials are considering sending mobile vaccination clinics at baseball games, farmers markets and other events.
“My team actually reached out with the chambers and the businesses in some of the communities to offer incentives…The colleges have taken a look at different ways that they could incentivize the students to get the vaccine,” Reynolds said. “so we’ll always be looking at different ways that we can really tie in and encourage people to get that done.”
West Virginia’s governor plans to issue $100 savings bonds to each West Virginia resident under the age of 36 who gets vaccinated. That is not among the options Iowa’s governor is considering. Reynolds said mobile clinics that can go to where Iowans are gathering is at the top of her list “and they’ll be able to receive a vaccine, but it’s also an opportunity to be educated, get some information if they have any questions. It’ll be an all-of-the-above resource.”
Demand for the shots has dropped and the public health departments in 80 of Iowa’s 99 counties declined all or part of their weekly allotment. About a million Iowans have had the single Johnson and Johnson vaccine or taken both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. According to the governor, about 56% of Iowa’s adult population has had at least one dose of Covid vaccine and all but 8% Iowans above the age of 65 have been vaccinated.