SALT LAKE CITY – More than 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Utah on Tuesday, health officials said – only 20% of the vaccine quantity that was sent to the state.
“There is a lot involved in getting a vaccine,” said Jenny Johnson, a Utah Department of Health spokeswoman. “It is no surprise to us that people see a number that has been sent to Utah and think that it means that we should vaccinate 100,000 people as soon as we get the vaccine. And that is not how it works.”
Figures released on Tuesday showed that Pfizer and Moderna had sent 102,025 combined doses of the vaccine to Utah since the launch, and 20,417 of those doses were given to healthcare professionals and others included in Phase 1 of the state’s distribution plan.
“People just need to know that there is a time lag from the moment it is sent to the moment it goes into someone’s arm,” said Johnson. “But we are giving people vaccines.”
Johnson said that when the state reports the number of “sent” doses, it does not necessarily mean that they are still in the state. The interval between doses sent and those administered is up to seven days, she said. There is also a 24-hour window to report that the vaccine has been administered, which increases the delay in reported numbers.
People just need to know that there is a time lag from the moment it is sent to the moment it goes into someone’s arm.
–Jenny Johnson, Utah Department of Health
Hospitals are instructed not to administer the vaccine to all team members at once, “because if they have some side effects that they want to stay home and rest in, you don’t have employees unable to work.” Johnson also emphasized that the vaccine is not the only thing that hospitals need to deal with.
“These are the same places that have dealt with this violent attack by patients with COVID-19,” she said. “And they are tired.”
Still, 20% of the vaccine administered is low compared to what other states reported in a recent New York Times article. He showed that neighboring state Colorado has administered more than 75% of its vaccine and Wyoming almost 50%.
“I can’t explain why some states have administered more vaccines than Utah,” said Johnson.
But Utah is doing better than the national average. On Tuesday, the CDC reported that 2.1 million doses were administered out of 11.4 million distributed across the country. This amounts to about 18%.
Johnson said the recent COVID-19 relief bill that the president signed this week will help distribute the vaccine.
“We need funding from the Cares Act to continue our response efforts,” she said.
Local health departments in the state also stocked up on part of the vaccine to prepare for clinics that Johnson said will begin this week. Johnson hopes that these clinics, combined with the distribution now underway at long-term care facilities, will help bridge the gap between vaccines sent and administered.