SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Department of Health officials said they will receive thousands of additional COVID-19 vaccine doses from the federal government next week.
Overall, it’s a 30% jump from previous weeks, or about 5,500 extra doses – a solid increase considering Utah gets about 33,000 doses per week.
“We were a little surprised to see that,” said Rich Lakin, director of immunization for the Utah Department of Health. “If they can send us more vaccines, that’s great.”
Right now, tens of thousands of Utahns aged 70 and older are trying to get the vaccine – so many that health department websites across the state have crashed.
Lakin said they don’t know why they are getting the extra doses or if it will continue in the future.
“Unfortunately, we only know from week to week what the federal government is going to send us. So it’s very difficult to plan in the future if you don’t know how many doses you’re going to get,” Lakin said. “I really don’t hesitate that we would have a 30% jump from now on.”
Lakin said they will decide how to distribute the extra doses and who to go to on Thursday. He is not sure if they will be distributed among the health departments, and they may go to others on the waiting list.
“There are many 70+ who need to be vaccinated, who cannot go to the local health departments, and if we can reach those populations at the same time, that also reduces the burden and death from COVID-19,” Lakin said.
Related Links
related stories
And Rascon