INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa governor has terminated the COVID-19 allocations for Buchanan, Hancock and three other counties, creating uncertainty about vaccinations planned for next week.
Buchanan County health officials confirmed that it was one of five counties notified on Thursday night by the Iowa Governor’s Office that they did not meet the state’s new 80% usage requirement for receiving more doses. The Iowa Department of Public Health declined to identify the other four affected counties. In an email, spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand said, “We feel that disclosing the names of the five counties does not support the intended outcome of the process, which is giving them the time they need to strengthen their administration process and get back to receiving new allocations to Iowa. “
KCRG-TV9 was able to confirm that Hancock County, in north-central Iowa, is among the five counties.
Buchanan County Public Health Director Tai Burkhart told KCRG-TV9 that the county will reach this 80% limit with clinics to be held on Thursday night and Friday. She had planned these clinics before the 80% rule was announced. Burkhart said the Iowa Department of Public Health knew about these planned clinics and said it would have an 80% rule grace period this week.
In an emergency call on Friday morning, the Governor’s Office said it would “reconsider” the termination of these vaccine doses if the county could reach its 80% limit by the end of Friday.
The Iowa Department of Public Health told KCRG-TV9 in an email that “the allocation break will allow each county to focus on administering the several hundred unused doses they have on hand during that time.”
However, Buchanan County says that after Friday it will not have hundreds of doses to administer and will have to cancel a 400-person clinic planned for Tuesday.
“This is eroding your confidence in public health and the Iowa Department of Public Health, which are not making the decisions, the governor is not asking for advice from public health professionals,” said Hunt.
Buchanan County does not know whether or when it will know whether the state has reversed its decision on how many doses, if any, it will receive next week. The county decided to vaccinate even more people on Friday to pass the 80% mark, collecting doses from a separate clinic that had scheduled to administer them early next week.
Hunt and Burkhart said the late rule change and notification left Buchanan County without time to adjust their vaccine clinics or plan to reach that 80% limit.
“They change their rules about us so often that it is very difficult to meet their demands,” said Hunt.
Hunt also runs a nursing home and says vaccine retention is personal to her.
“I am the one who needs to hold their hand while they die from this disease,” said Hunt. “So, if Buchanan County residents are not vaccinated, I am the end result.”
The Governor’s Office says that the doses initially allocated to Buchanan and the other four counties will “be sent to other vaccine suppliers capable of higher administration fees”.
Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.