However, local public health experts said they are satisfied with the progress being made in this region.
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According to the COVID Data Tracker of the Center for Disease Control on Monday, January 4, more than 15.4 million doses have been distributed across the country.
Only 4.5 million of them were administered, far less than the federal government’s goal of having 20 million people vaccinated before the end of 2020.
Some blamed the lack of staff capable of delivering the vaccines, but this does not appear to be a problem in Fargo-Moorhead or in their respective Cass or Clay counties.
Suzanne Schaefer, director of nursing at Fargo Cass Public Health, said they didn’t have to carry any vaccines week after week.
“When we receive it, we are managing it. We have zero in our refrigerator, ”said Schaefer.
On Monday, FCPH vaccinated 728 people, including emergency medical service teams, firefighters, police and residents of collective houses.
“We know that it is better to put it in your hands immediately if we want to start this protection,” she said.
At the state level, North Dakota was also able to distribute the vaccine at an accelerated rate.
On Monday, 64% of vaccine doses received were administered, according to Molly Howell, director of the state Department of Health’s immunization program.
Of the 35,250 doses distributed, about 22,685 were placed in the arms of people with the highest priority for the vaccine in North Dakota.
The percentage of doses administered in South Dakota has been similar, while Minnesota has been somewhat slower to launch the vaccine, until now.
The Minnesota Department of Health announced on Monday that 297,350 doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been allocated and distributed to providers.
Of these, 78,402 doses or about 26% were administered; however, the department noted on its website that it can take up to 48 hours for the data to be fully processed and included.
Howell said it may be that other states have more doses linked to long-term care centers, many of which are partnering with the Federal Pharmacy Partnership program to administer the vaccine.
North Dakota doesn’t have that many pharmacies involved, which include Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy, she said.
Clay County public health nurse Liz Bjur confirmed that most long-term care institutions in Minnesota have joined the federal program.
In the evening of the Eighth day in Moorhead, he received his vaccine allocation early in late December because he was able to vaccinate his own residents and employees.
Other qualified nursing facilities in Clay County, including Moorhead Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Moorhead, Viking Manor in Ulen and Valley Care and Rehab in Barnesville are receiving doses of vaccine this week under the partnership of a federal pharmacy.
“Whenever you are going to launch a very new vaccine for a large number of people, it will take some time for things to fall into place,” said Bjur.
In the partnership, the pharmacy is responsible for receiving, storing and administering the vaccine, in addition to sending the data to the state’s immunization office, he said.
Vaccination also began this week in a centralized location in Clay County for about 250 emergency medical personnel who are not connected to a health care system in Clay and in neighboring Becker, Otter Tail and Wilkin counties.
About 40 employees working at the COVID saliva testing site in Moorhead and about 40 community COVID vaccinators, including public health nurses, will also receive vaccines in Clay County, said Bjur.
At FCPH, Schaefer expects to receive 500 more doses this week, which will be used for the rest of the priority groups that they were unable to close last week.
Howell said that this phase of the North Dakota vaccination program involving health workers and nursing homes is really the simplest.
Prioritizing other groups afterwards according to the occupational risk, age and underlying health conditions will be much more difficult.
“I really think it will get more complicated in other phases,” said Howell.
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