Utah Department of Health and CDC are working to ensure state receives ‘fair share’ of COVID-19 vaccine

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Department of Health officials said on Sunday the agency plans to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure it receives its “fair share” of the COVID vaccine -19.

The health department made the announcement in a series of “vaccine transparency” statements following a Salt Lake Tribune report on Saturday that said Utah received fewer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine per capita than other states.

The department acknowledged that vaccines were distributed to states based on the share of the adult population. With Utah’s average age being the youngest in the country, the state was expected to receive fewer doses.

“We have no reason to believe that Utah is receiving fewer doses than it should be,” the agency statement said in part.

“We asked the CDC to make sure Utah gets its fair share of vaccines,” he continues. “They are not aware of any discrepancies, but have agreed to review their numbers to verify accuracy.”

Since the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in mid-December, most doses of the vaccine have ended up in the arms of healthcare professionals and emergency responders. It is also approved for residents of long-term care facilities, teachers and the elderly. In Utah, anyone 70 years of age or older is eligible for the vaccine. Some states have started vaccinating people 65 years of age and older.

People aged 70 and over made up only 6% of the state’s population at the time of the 2010 census; about 13% were people aged 60 or over. More than three-quarters of the state’s population at that time were under the age of 50.

Although the Census Bureau has yet to finalize the 2020 census data, estimates for the past few years would indicate that Utah still leans heavily towards a young population, including ages that are not yet eligible for the vaccine. according to federal deployment guidelines. For example, he estimated that only 16% of the state’s 3.2 million people in 2019 were people 65 and older.

CDC data updated Sunday night shows South Carolina (8,803 per 100,000) was last in COVID-19 vaccine distribution per capita in the United States, followed by Nevada (9,316 per 100,000 ). But data shows all vaccine distributions since mid-December, including doses delivered to health workers, emergency responders and teachers, many of whom are below the 65-70 or older range. . It also doesn’t indicate how many were delivered specifically for long-term care facilities – something the federal government oversees.

Neither the CDC nor the state health department provides a breakdown of vaccines delivered or administered based on the groups that received the vaccine. The health department said on Sunday it briefly provided data on where the vaccines are in the state, but gathered that information “while we go through a data quality assurance process.” There are plans to return to the ministry’s COVID-19 dashboard in the near future.

Meanwhile, Utah Governor Spencer Cox announced last week that the state will provide new data on the time between arrival and administration of vaccine doses. The state released a new set of data on Thursday showing the number of vaccine doses older than seven days that had still not been used.

“No dose should be on the set for more than seven days,” Cox said at a press briefing. “My only focus has been on the first doses because the first doses lead to the second doses, and every ability we have to get vaccines needs to be focused on those first doses as soon as possible.”

The state reported 31,398 unused vaccine doses more than seven days old that day. Over 80% of these have been reserved for federal partner pharmacies responsible for administering vaccines in long-term care facilities.

In its response Sunday, the Utah Department of Health updated the figure to 26,399 unused vaccine doses. Community nursing and local health departments – those responsible for administering doses to emergency responders and residents – had used up all of their allocated supply, while hospitals and clinics had used up 96% of their supply. and federal partner pharmacies had exhausted 49%.

The health department said on Sunday that partner federal pharmacies had 28,010 total unused doses – 23,235 of these were reserved for first-use doses. The ministry said pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens “do an excellent job” immunizing staff and patients in long-term care facilities, but the federal government has provided too many doses reserved for long-term care facilities. as needed.

“Some of these doses are probably available in preparation for clinics coming up this week. However, it appears the federal government has allocated too many vaccines to these vendors,” the Department of Health says.

“We will ensure that Walgreens and CVS receive the doses they need to fulfill their obligations in long-term care facilities,” the department continues. “But all doses above and beyond must be transferred or diverted to other vendors statewide who have the capacity to put them up to speed as quickly as possible.”

Nearly 230,000 Utahns have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, according to an update from the state’s health department on Monday.

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