SALT LAKE CITY – COVID-19 mass vaccination sites are scheduled to start operating in Utah in March, and three months from now, all Utahn who want protection from the virus should have the opportunity to receive their vaccines, officials said. to state lawmakers on Wednesday.
“We will reach the entire adult population, if 100% of them want to, by the end of May,” Utah Department of Health executive director Rich Saunders told members of the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday. .
That is, as long as vaccine manufacturers keep up with the promised increased doses.
“So are you promising that the masks will come out in May or June, and can we all just open up and start acting normally again? Is that what I heard? “Committee chairman Senator Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, asked during a COVID-19 update focusing on vaccinations.
Saunders laughed before replying, “That’s not what I said,” and Kennedy interrupted with seemingly simulated exasperation, explaining, “Oh, no.”
The executive director continued: “But I would tell you this: man, we are thinking of finding out when this will happen. Because I will be the first to remove this mask and throw a party. “
This yielded an “amen” from Kennedy, who later said he believed it was “quite clear” that the virus “will always be with us”, as well as measles and similar illnesses. A doctor himself, Kennedy said he would like to have access to vaccines at some point for his own patients.
The switch came as 1,299 new cases of COVID-19 and 17 additional deaths from the virus were reported in Utah on Wednesday. To date, 442,476 doses of vaccines have been administered in Utah, an increase of 16,778 since Tuesday.
Saunders said the state is counting on increasing doses of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna already approved for use in the United States, as well as new vaccines, including from Johnson & Johnson, quickly made available by the federal government.
He said that about 78% of the state’s nearly 274,000 health professionals, first responders, elementary and high school teachers and employees received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with about 43% of the estimated 241,000 Utahns aged 70 or older. more, most recent group to become eligible.
About 71% of Utah residents and long-term care workers received at least one dose of the vaccine, a rate that is among the highest in the country, according to Dr. Michelle Hoffman, a newly appointed deputy director. state health department.
As of March 1, Utahns aged 65 and over, as well as those with specific medical conditions, may also be vaccinated. Rich Lakin, manager of the immunization program for the state health department, told the committee that several partners are being brought in to administer places where at least 1,000 vaccines can be administered daily.
Among them are Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah Health and Brigham Young University, said Lakin. A new state contract with Nomi Health, the Orem-based company behind the COVID-19 “Test Utah” testing program, did not appear at the committee’s hearing.
Governor Spencer Cox and Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson are expected to call on Thursday for volunteers to assist in mass vaccination sites, as well as the efforts of local health departments, ranging from medical professionals to Utahns able to handle logistics and data entry the committee was informed.
In addition, some Smith’s and Walmart pharmacies are ready to start offering free vaccines for Utahns who are eligible for injections.
Appointments must be made online for vaccinations starting on Thursday at 39 of Smith’s 53 pharmacies in Utah and on Friday at 18 of 59 Walmart pharmacies and at Sam’s Club pharmacy in Logan. Patients are asked to bring insurance information, but vaccines are also available to uninsured people through a new federal program.
Lakin said the inclusion of children in the vaccination program around May came up in discussions with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said that so far, Utah has not been included in another federal initiative, the creation of health centers for vaccination starting next week in states like Colorado.
The seven-day continuous average for positive tests in Utah is now 1,053 per day, according to the state health department.
Another 23,334 tests for the deadly virus have been carried out in Utah since Tuesday, and the number of people tested has increased to 8,988. The seven-day continuous average for the percentage of positive tests that includes all tests done is 7%, but that number increases to 15.3% when multiple tests for an individual in a 90-day period are excluded.
Currently, 323 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, bringing the total number of hospitalizations in the state since the pandemic began almost a year ago to more than 14,000.
The death toll in Utah now stands at 1,765. The latest deaths are:
- A man from Box Elder County, aged 65 to 84, hospitalized at the time of death.
- A woman from Box Elder County, aged 65 to 84, who lives in a long-term care center.
- A man from Cache County, over 85, hospitalized.
- A woman from Carbon County, over 85, hospitalized.
- Two men from Salt Lake County, over 85, one hospitalized and the other resident in a long-term care facility.
- A woman from Salt Lake County, over 85, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A man from Salt Lake County, aged 65 to 84, who was not hospitalized at the time of death.
- A man from Tooele County, 65-84, hospitalized.
- Two men from Utah County, over 85, one hospitalized and the other resident in a long-term care facility.
- Utah county woman, over 85 years old, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A Wasatch County woman, over 85, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A woman from Weber County, over 85, who lives in a long-term care center.
- A man from Weber County, over 85, hospitalized.
- A man from Weber County, 65-84, residing in a long-term care facility.
- A man from Weber County, 45-64, hospitalized.