Vaccine Pause Has Small Iowa Impact
Yesterday’s Federal Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control pause to Johnson & Johnson vaccine administration will have limited overall impact to the state’s immunization program.
During her Wednesday morning press conference, Governor Kim Reynolds said the state was, “already planning for minimal supply,” resulting from the manufacturing issues at an Emergent BioSolutions facility in West Baltimore. After receiving 45,800 doses last week, Iowa expected just 5,400 this week and only 1,800 next week.
In the immediate term, some vaccination clinics postponed their event due to the pause, including a Linn County Public Health Department event at Collins Aerospace yesterday and today, however, both the Pfizer and Moderna shots are being reallocated to those areas to backfill to allow future events to go forward.
Concern about increasing vaccination hesitancy among Iowans is a focus of the Governor’s Office. Iowa Department of Human Services Director Kelly Garcia announced a partnership between the Iowa Department of Public Health, U of I and ISU Extension offices to host a series of virtual information sessions where Iowans can ask questions to medical professionals about immunization.
Garcia said we are at a point in the pandemic where we need start, “talking to these Iowans who may be on the fence of taking the vaccines.”
Online sessions are scheduled for April 17, 19 and 24 with that last date in Spanish. Dr. Caitlin Pedati from the Iowa Department of Public Health and Dr. Pat Winokur the Carver College of Medicine Executive Dean will host the events. The sessions are free and open to the public and do not require registration.
Reynolds reported one of every three Iowans is now fully vaccinated, though notably, Lt. Governor Adam Gregg is not one of them. Eighty-nine percent of those sixty-five years of age or older received at least one dose with fifty-two percent of Iowans in their fifties at least partially vaccinated. Only twenty-nine percent of Iowans in their twenties have one shot, but most only became eligible for vaccines in early April.
Anyone interested in attending one of the virtual sessions can get more information at www.iowacovidinfo.org/.