JOHNSTON Although Iowa is receiving fewer doses of COVID-19 vaccines than projected, the lower allocation will not alter the state’s schedule for getting the vaccine to residents and staff of long-term care facilities like nursing homes, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday.
The state originally expected to receive a combined 172,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Late last week, state officials were informed they would instead receive 138,300, a roughly 20 percent reduction.
Other states were similarly affected by what federal officials said was mistaken forecasts that did not account for the full process of vaccine approval, the Washington Post reported.
IOWA CITY The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics which last week became the first place in Iowa to start inoculating its workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine expects its first shipment of about 1,500 doses of the Moderna brand of the vaccine this week, possibly Tuesday.
As of Monday, 1,143 front-line UIHC employees working directly with patients including those with COVID-19 had received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, which arrived Dec. 14.
“There have been no severe reactions,” according to UIHC spokeswoman Jennifer Brown, who confirmed Pfizer vaccinations will continue this week possibly extending beyond the first tier of front line workers to a second-priority group of support staff on the main campus.