1 in 5 Iowans now qualify for COVID vaccine, including seniors and teachers. What you need to know. Nick Coltrain and Tony Leys, Des Moines Register
Who can get COVID-19 vaccine? Here are the Iowans who are eligible.
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Iowa s first major expansion of eligibility requirements for the COVID-19 vaccine, beginning Monday, is a big one: Up to 660,000 people, or about 20% of the state s population, qualify.
But there won t be a similarly massive wave of inoculations washing across the state. They will instead trickle in, an expected 46,300 doses a week, for the foreseeable future, with many of those currently earmarked for nursing home residents and staff.
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Johnson County residents who fall into the Phase 1B coronavirus vaccination category in which school workers take top priority could see doses made available to them beginning next week.
But the process of vaccinating school employees is complex: At a time when doses are limited in the first place, school district officials have been tasked with using guidance from federal, state and local agencies to create a system that tiers which school employees might receive the vaccine first based on their vulnerability to the virus and other factors.
Sam Jarvis, community health division manager with Johnson County Public Health, said Johnson County s school districts will take into consideration factors like employees frequency of contact with others during work especially vulnerable populations as well as their ability to work from home in tiering employees for vaccinations. The process of determining who should receive doses first is simila
Cedar Rapids Firefighters Get Vaccines, Iowa City Waits
Like many of the larger career fire departments across the state, the Cedar Rapids Fire Department requires that its personnel be certified EMTs at the time of hiring, and more than one-third of the department s firefighters also are paramedics. by Kat Russell, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iow / January 25, 2021 TNS
(TNS) - Roughly 75 percent of Cedar Rapids firefighters and a handful of Cedar Rapids police officers have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Fire Chief Greg Smith reported that 108 of the department s 144 firefighters have started the vaccination process.
Seven Cedar Rapids police officers also have had the first of two shots, Smith reported at a Public Safety Youth Services committee meeting Monday,
Exactly when those Iowans will be able to get vaccinated, however, is not yet clear.
Johnson County public health officials say distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to people in the state s second, or 1B, phase could take anywhere between a few weeks to several months, due to its limited supply.
Phase 1A distribution, which included health care workers, began in mid-December and is almost complete.
At a county-wide meeting between local government bodies and the two Johnson County school districts Monday, a representative from the Johnson County Public Health Department updated those agencies representatives and the public on the distribution of the vaccine here as well as a word of caution.
Vaccine Available To More Linn County Residents Today
Lets start with the good news, shall we? Starting today in Linn County, all residents over the age of 65 will be able to get vaccinated for COVID-19. But now, the bad news. Public health officials say that due to the limited amount of vaccine in the state, it will go very quickly.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that people who are interested in getting the vaccine will need to schedule an appointment. But because of the limited amount of vaccine, those appointments are going to fill up very quickly. Residents in Linn County who now qualify to get the vaccine will be contacted by their primary care provider to schedule an appointment to get the first shot of the vaccine. Providers who will be giving out the shots include