Northwest Iowa — Three of the four northwest Iowa counties in our coverage area have declined full or partial shipments of COVID vaccine in the last week.
Last week we reported that Lyon and Osceola counties had declined doses of vaccine. Lyon County officials said that they turned away some doses but took a partial shipment. Osceola County officials said that they turned away a shipment due to not being able to meet the needed rate, but that they would be taking the next shipment because they had a clinic lined up.
The map of counties declining doses in the latest allocation seems a little concentrated in northwest Iowa, but not every county in our area is in that situation. It’s also not uncommon, as almost half of the counties in the state (43 of 99) have declined doses.
The latest list includes Lyon, O’Brien, and Sioux counties in our area, along with nearby counties Clay, Dickinson, Buena Vista, Emmet, Palo Alto, Sac, Ida, and Woodbury.
Other counties declining doses include Adams, Allamakee, Appanoose, Audubon, Butler, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton, Crawford, Des Moines, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Fremont, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Jackson, Jefferson, Keokuk, Kossuth, Louisa, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Webster, and Winnebago.
Sarah Ekstrand, Public Information Officer for the Iowa Department of Public Health says that it should be noted, that “These counties are doing exactly what we have asked of them. That is, when a county cannot ensure the ability to administer all of the allocated doses, we ask them to decline doses so those doses can be allocated to areas of the state with a high demand.” Ekstrand says that these counties will continue to receive a weekly allocation with the option to decline doses or accept doses as the need within each county may fluctuate. She says that counties also have the option of accepting a portion of their total allocation.
Ekstrand tells us they are working with counties and community leaders to determine where additional education and public awareness campaigns are needed to “gain an understanding of the needs of each county’s unique population.”
Pam Juber with Osceola Community Health Services says the area may be reaching a saturation point at which few if any more people want the vaccine. She encourages people who do want the vaccine to make an appointment as soon as possible because they need to line up groups of 10 people, as the vaccine is packaged ten doses to a vial.
