COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – South Carolina lawmakers are questioning the pace of the coronavirus vaccine launch in the state, even when health officials say they are vaccinating people faster than the rest of the country.
The state administered only 35,158 of the 112,125 doses it received by Wednesday, or about 31%, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control. It is still higher than the national average of 19% and that of other states in the Southeast, the agency said in a press release.
These doses go to frontline health professionals and people who live and work in long-term care facilities in the early stages of the state.
“It will be an unknown time before everyone who would like to be vaccinated can get the vaccine,” said Dr. Linda Bell, a state epidemiologist, in a statement. “We ask all Southern Carolinians to continue to be patient and understand that a venture like this will take many weeks to complete the initial phases and months to reach our final goal of coverage for the population.”
For state legislators already frustrated with the health agency’s response to the pandemic, the numbers are yet another sign that the health department’s performance is low.
Senate majority leader Shane Massey said there is likely to be broader oversight of the agency next year: “The public is asking for more leadership and more communication, whether from the governor’s office or DHEC, just to let us know what is happening in. I don’t think it’s an irrational request ”.
The department has not had a permanent director since the beginning of the summer. During that time, the agency was tasked with leading the vaccine’s launch in addition to its other pandemic functions, including testing. The large agency of almost 4,000 employees also oversees everything from hospitals and public health to water quality, dams and landfills.
Senator Marlon Kimpson, a Democrat from Charleston, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he had learned from the department that slowness can be attributed to a number of factors. Some frontline health workers are refusing to be vaccinated, while others are on vacation, Kimpson said. He added that the agency indicates that there is also a delay in disclosing the numbers of vaccines administered.
“The numbers are terribly disturbing,” said Kimpson.
Congressman Neal Collins, a Republican from Pickens, pointed out that, given the state’s current rate, it would take years for the entire population of 5 million to be vaccinated.
Collins, who worked to help simplify testing in South Carolina, says the slowness he witnessed in the testing process – from sample collection to data reporting – may also be happening with vaccine delivery: “There are all different types of bottlenecks there, and I imagine the same is happening with vaccines ”.
Hospitals say they are moving quickly to vaccinate team members, as the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus has created personnel problems for systems that are already close or at peak capacity. Prisma Health, the state’s largest health care system, had already vaccinated more than 6,000 employees as of Wednesday.
“We are dosing as quickly as possible,” said Heather Woolwine, a spokeswoman for the Medical University of South Carolina.
Hospitals are also bracing themselves for the bleak consequences of holiday gatherings, as the number of coronaviruses in South Carolina has skyrocketed since Thanksgiving weekend. The health department reported 2,323 confirmed cases and 42 additional deaths on Wednesday. The state has recorded a total of 280,024 confirmed cases and 4,846 deaths since the outbreak began.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.
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Michelle Liu is a member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.