The federal government is close to delivering 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine during the month of December, as promised, but states are taking longer than expected to get those doses into people s arms, officials admitted Wednesday.
About 15.5 million doses will be delivered by the end of the year, with the remaining 5 million arriving between Jan. 4-6, said Gen. Gus Perna, who co-leads Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests.
But only about 1 million of the 9 million doses distributed so far have been reported administered, his co-lead Moncef Slaoui confirmed during a news conference.
Indiana prisons, jails to receive coronavirus vaccine in Phase 2 of plan Elizabeth DePompei, Indianapolis Star
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Before the coronavirus vaccine will be made available to the general public, there s another group expected to get access: persons working or living in jails and prisons.
In the state s vaccination plan draft, prison and jails, along with other congregate settings such as homeless shelters, would receive doses in Phase 2.
In Phase 3, the vaccination can be distributed to the general public.
The state started administering the vaccine on Monday when six health care workers in Fort Wayne received their first doses. Fifty hospitals and clinics expected to receive 55,575 Pfizer vaccine doses by Friday. An estimated 400,000 health care workers statewide are eligible for the first round of vaccines.
COVID-19 BEDS: Federal data show pandemic’s impact on Indiana hospitals
Data released by the federal government this week painted a more detailed picture of the toll that the pandemic has been taking on thousands of individual hospitals in the U.S. including Columbus Regional Hospital, where the increase in the share of beds filled with COVID-19 patients has been among the highest in the state over the past three months.
Records from the Department of Health and Human Services show that, on average, the percentage of beds at CRH occupied by COVID-19 patients has more than quadrupled since early September and only 12 out of 120 hospitals in Indiana reported higher increases over the same time period.
Data show pandemic’s impact on Indiana hospitals
An exterior view of Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, Ind., pictured, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Data released by the federal government this week painted a more detailed picture of the toll that the pandemic has been taking on thousands of individual hospitals in the U.S. including Columbus Regional Hospital, where the increase in the share of beds filled with COVID-19 patients has been among the highest in the state over the past three months.
Records from the Department of Health and Human Services show that, on average, the percentage of beds at CRH occupied by COVID-19 patients has more than quadrupled since early September and only 12 out of 120 hospitals in Indiana reported higher increases over the same time period.