DES MOINES, Iowa — Fast Facts
- Vaccine providers can now vaccinate people in non-priority groups if a vaccine dose would otherwise be thrown away.
- Iowa health officials prepare vaccine providers for a scenario that may require states to allow everyone 65 and older to get vaccinated, despite it breaking from the state's current vaccination plan.
- Starting next month, Iowa health officials expect to see a small increase in vaccine doses shipped to the state because vaccine manufacturers are expanding production.
DES MOINES, Iowa — State health officials have changed a vaccine shortage order to allow providers to administer COVID-19 vaccines to people outside of the approved priority groups if it prevents a vaccine dose from having to be thrown away.
"[Vaccine providers] are prohibited from vaccinating any person who is not included in priority designation Phase 1A or Phase 1B," the Iowa Department of Public Health's Phase 1B Supplemental Vaccine Shortage Order says. "However, you may use residual vaccine from vials that would otherwise have to be discarded to vaccinate a person who is not included in these priority designations if necessary to avoid vaccine waste."
The order was signed by Interim Director Kelly Garcia Friday.
That same day, IDPH hosted a webinar with vaccine providers to update them on the latest distribution plans.
"This does give you the flexibility that, if you have residual vaccine from a vial or a small number of vials that would otherwise have to be discarded, [you can] vaccinate a person who is not included in these priority designations," said Ken Sharp, acute disease prevention, emergency response and environmental health director at IDPH. "It's okay to do so to avoid waste. We want to give you that discretion. But in doing so we please ask and make reasoned discretionary decisions for the best use of that vaccine."
How many doses is Iowa getting?
It's the question all local public health departments, and all Iowans for that matter, want to know.
Unfortunately, the information is slow to trickle in.
IDPH officials said Friday, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notifies them on how many vaccines the state will get.
Every Sunday, IDPH then decides where to send doses for the following week.
IDPH officials said they look at census data when making distribution plans, but noted census data doesn't always show the whole picture.
"We're also watching very closely doses administered within the county, and then doses that are in [their] inventory," Sharp said. "We are doing our best to watch and make sure that we're keeping track of, within that inventory, an estimation of what is included for prime and boost doses."
IDPH officials said Friday that Pfizer vaccines are coming in increments of 975 doses and Moderna vaccines are coming in increments of 100 doses.
Bigger shipments are coming
Both Pfizer and Moderna are projected to increase production by a million doses each week, according to IDPH.
That is expected to start after President-elect Joe Biden assumes the presidency.
In February, Iowa health officials anticipate the state will start getting more vaccines, but they aren't sure how much.
"Yes, we will start seeing increases in allocation beginning in early February," Sharp said during Friday's webinar with vaccine providers. "We are not talking many times higher amounts. We are talking an incremental increase."
Sharp said that's because an increase in one million doses nationwide doesn't translate into a significant increase in doses here in Iowa.
Will Iowa need to open up vaccinations to everyone 65+?
There are several questions IDPH officials said they've yet to get answers to Friday.
"Operation Warp Speed announced on Tuesday that there was an intent to increase significantly the vaccine being administered to the States," Sharp said Friday during a webinar with vaccine providers. "That was construed to mean that there would be significant changes in how vaccine would be allocated to states. There was also language that seemed fairly strong to say states are required to be vaccinating individuals over the age of 65. We have been working all week to try to gain additional information. We have not had exact clarity on that information."
Local 5's Rachel Droze followed up with IDPH to see if they got further information between Friday and Tuesday.
"We don't have directive[s] from [Operation Warp Speed] or the CDC that we're required to make vaccine available to 65 and older," IDPH spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand said in an email Tuesday. "Ken's mention of that language was to just prepare the vaccine administrators that this may be coming, not that it was required at this time."
Iowa health officials address reports of a depleted national stockpile
Department officials reassured Iowans that the state's COVID-19 vaccination plan is still on track despite reports of vaccine shortages and slow rollouts in other states.
Reports out of other states showed they're not as fortunate.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, released a statement saying the head of Operation Warp Speed told her states will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile.
According to the Associated Press, Michael Pratt, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said there has been no reduction in doses shipped to states.
A Washington Post article detailed accounts of vaccine shortage concerns, but Sharp provided more context to the reports.
"Historically, the federal government has held back a reserve of about 5% of the vaccines that are delivered to them from the manufacturers," Sharp said Friday. "CDC and Operation Warp Speed are discontinuing that practice and they will be delivering nearly 100% of the vaccines that they receive each week to the states. So that will be about a 5% increase in the allocations that we are receiving. That showed up with this week's allocations for delivery next week."
Iowans did have its own shortage scare in December.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.