'We just don't have arms to put it in right now.' Some Iowa counties decline state vaccine supplies as demand wanes
Nick ColtrainFour months ago, the select people who qualified for COVID-19 vaccines were in a pitched race to secure the precious medicine.
Now, less than two weeks after eligibility expanded to everyone 16 or older, some counties are declining their full allocations of vaccine in the hopes that the doses will go to places where there's higher demand.
Winnebago County Public Health asked for only half of the 200 doses the state allocated to the county, Clinical Manager Allison Rice said. It's one of 21 counties that declined a full allotment of vaccines due to lack of immediate demand, Iowa Public Health Department officials said this week.
"We just don't have arms to put it in right now," Rice said.
It doesn't mean the counties are barren of vaccines — these allocations don't account for doses sent directly to pharmacies by the federal government — but it demonstrates the uneven demand across Iowa.
More:What is safe to do once you've been fully vaccinated against COVID-19?
Winnebago County is now shifting its strategy from making vaccines available for residents clamoring for the potentially pandemic-curing medicine to reaching people who were hesitant or otherwise couldn't make it to a clinic, Rice said.
Half of Iowa adults have gotten at least one shot
As of Wednesday, more than half of Iowa's adults reported receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That puts the COVID-19 vaccination rate ahead of the rate for the seasonal flu vaccine in most years, according to public health officials. During the 2019-2020 flu season, 40% of Iowans got the flu vaccine, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data.
Iowa Public Health Department interim Director Kelly Garcia said 70% vaccination rates are a "gold standard" — but one that's rarely reached in any vaccine campaign. That doesn't mean the state won't continue to work toward vaccinating as many people as possible.
"You're still going to pick people up along their way," Garcia told the Des Moines Register and other news outlets Wednesday. "People will change their minds. They will be affected in some way that will make them change, and so that effort needs to continue."
Rice wasn't shocked that her county of about 10,000 residents has apparently hit a tipping point in supply outstripping demand.
About 3,800 people there have either started or been completely vaccinated. The most common vaccine formulas, manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer, require two doses, taken weeks apart. People 18 or older qualify for any of the approved vaccines, while only Pfizer is approved for people 16 and 17.
Webster County health officials also declined some of the doses the state offered. Local drugstores, which are receiving federal vaccine supplies, are meeting local demand, so the health department is shifting to outreach, Webster County Health Department Executive Director Kari Prescott said.
She expects demand to fluctuate in coming weeks, with more people rolling up their sleeves as they see friends' and neighbors' reactions. While a 70% vaccination rate tops her wish list, she's aiming now for 50% or 55%, she said. About 15,300 residents in the county, home to nearly 36,000 people, have been vaccinated or have received at least one dose.
"The vaccine is safe, and we highly recommend people getting vaccinated with the vaccine that's readily available in their community," she said.
High demand for vaccine in metro areas
Hy-Vee is offering vaccines through the federal partnership. Company spokesperson Christina Gayman said in an email that, generally, vaccine appointments in Iowa's metro areas are snapped up fairly quickly. Vaccine hunters are likely to find more appointments in smaller communities.
Hy-Vee's experience matches the description from Polk County Health Department officials: There's no shortage of demand in the state's most populous county. The county is also reaching out to non-English speaking residents and partnering with organizations that serve the area's ethnic communities, spokesperson Nola Aigner Davis said.
Polk County Health Department Director Helen Eddy said "demand is still good," and noted that the arrival of more transmissible coronavirus variants into the state makes vaccination all the more urgent. About 35% of Polk County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, Eddy said.
"We're kind of in this rush against time where we want to get as many people vaccinated as we can before we continue to see the emergence of these different variants," Eddy said at the weekly Polk County Board of Health Advisory Committee meeting Friday morning.
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Nick Coltrain is a politics and data reporter for the Register. Reach him at ncoltrain@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8361.