Statewide Iowa — Governor Kim Reynolds says the the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations for Iowa nursing residents and staff is unacceptable. Under a federal agreement, a pair of national pharmacies were hired to get the shots deployed to Iowa nursing homes. Some nursing home managers say they cannot find out when shots will be administered in their facilities.
(As above) “This is a problem that’s happening in states all across the country,” Reynolds says. “None of us are happy with the way that this is being executed.”
Reynolds and other governors spoke with executives from the two national pharmacy chains late Thursday. Reynolds says if the two companies can’t fulfill the contract in a timely manner, local pharmacies should get the business.
(As above) “If they can’t reach a certain threshold, a certain percentage, then that ought to be a trigger for them to pass it to the states,” Reynolds says.
Reynolds says the agreement to have the national pharmacy chains in charge of delivering and administering the COVID vaccines in nursing homes seemed to address concerns about having enough staff to give the shots.
(As above) “But it’s just not being allocated in a manner that we were hoping that it would be,” Reynolds says.
The first doses of vaccines in nursing homes were given December 28th. However, nearly two weeks later, it’s still unclear how many of the state’s more than 60-thousand nursing home residents and staff have been vaccinated. The governor says about 60 percent of the doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that the state has received so far have been given, but there’s no break-down on who’s getting the shots. According to the most recent federal data, Iowa’s COVID-19 vaccination rate is among the highest in the country.
