Utah government Spencer Cox spoke at a weekly newsletter on Thursday about the state’s coronavirus response, including progress in vaccine distribution.
The state is opening vaccinations to people 65 and older and those with certain chronic health conditions beginning March 1, Cox announced.
Starting Thursday morning, he added, “About 35% of all our seniors aged 70 and over have been vaccinated. That’s about 84,000 of you, and it’s only been a few weeks, so we’re well back on track to get those most at risk vaccinated and save lives. “
Cox said the state has reached a “major milestone”: More COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered – when the first and second doses are combined – than the number of positive tests reported in the state.
And 84,154 Utahns have been fully vaccinated, after receiving both doses of the vaccine.
“We’re trying to be more viral than the virus and it happens,” he said.
The state plans to receive an additional 33,000 doses of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine per week by the end of March, Cox said. Another 84,000 a week of the AstraZeneca version of the vaccine could arrive by April, Cox said.
That book “just changes the ball game for all of us and that’s what we’re up to,” he said. “That’s what we’re preparing for.”
As the state ramps up its vaccine distribution, Cox said there will be “planning issues.”
“There’s going to be a little chaos in every state, in every country in the world for this to happen and we’re going to embrace that chaos, we’re going to resolve that chaos,” he said, “and we’ll be in seven days of getting that vaccine get a gun shot and we’re going to save lives. “
Cox expects that for the next three weeks, all seniors 70 and older who wish to be vaccinated. “We’re going to kill that group of people and move on to that next stage,” he said.
Cox assured Utahns that people over 70 who are struggling to get a vaccination appointment will be able to get theirs in the coming weeks.
In the next stage of eligibility, which begins March 1, people 65 and older will be eligible for the vaccine.
That includes people with certain chronic health conditions, which equates to about 400,000 people in the state aged 18 and older.
That list includes recipients of solid organ transplants; certain cancers; people who are immunocompromised by blood, bone marrow or bone transplant, HIV, or the use of other immune-compromising drugs; severe kidney disease, on dialysis; people with uncontrolled diabetes; chronic liver disease; chronic heart disease; severe chronic respiratory disease, other than asthma; stroke and dementia.
Cox urged people not to call their health departments to schedule vaccinations now if they fall into one of those categories, and said additional information will come in the coming weeks.
“This allows us to return to normal more quickly because we save the lives of those most vulnerable,” he said.
State epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn said local and state health departments will focus for the remainder of February on finishing vaccines in the arms of people 70 and older.
Once that wider eligibility opens on March 1, Dunn said, the state will rely on the honor system. “If you don’t fall into those categories … don’t look for a vaccine,” she said.
The faster the state can get through high-risk populations, the sooner lower-risk people can get a vaccination, she added.
Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson said 29 Smith’s pharmacies and 18 Walmart locations will receive vaccine doses in Utah starting Feb. 11 – initially only for Utahns over the age of 70.
“The state actually has control over who is eligible” to get the vaccines through Walmart and Smith, Henderson said.
People who have appointments through their health department should stick to those appointments, she said, rather than trying to get one through Smith’s or Walmart.
There will be more information in the coming days on how Utahns can sign up to help with vaccine distribution, Henderson added.
Dunn also said national media comparisons of the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine compared to Moderna and Pfizer are “misinformed.”
Johnson & Johnson studies have shown the vaccine to be effective in protecting 72% of US individuals from COVID-19 infection and 85% to be effective against serious illness, she said.
“It is very important that once the vaccine becomes available, when it is our turn to take the vaccine, we all get the vaccine,” regardless of the company that produced it, she said.
Dunn said plans are being drawn up to help people who are homeless and that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccination could be particularly suitable for that population, once it becomes available.