SALT LAKE CITY – Mass vaccination sites COVID-19 begin in March and three months from now in Utah. Every Utahn who wants protection against the virus should be given a chance to receive their shots, health officials told lawmakers Wednesday.
“We will reach the entire adult population by the end of May if 100% of them want it,” Rich Saunders, Utah’s executive director of the Department of Health, told members of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.
This is as long as the vaccine manufacturers follow the increased doses promised.
‘So, you promise that the masks will come off by May or June, and we can all just reopen and act normal again? Is that what I heard? The committee’s chairman, Senator Mike Kennedy, asked R-Alpine during an update on COVID-19, focused on vaccinations.
Saunders laughs before answering, “That’s not what I said,” and Kennedy interrupts with apparent indignation, explaining, “Oh, no.”
The CEO continued, ‘But I would tell you this: Man, we’re aiming to find out when it’s. Because I will be the first to take off this mask and hold a celebration. ”
It deserves an ‘Amen’ from Kennedy, who later said he believes it is very clear that the virus ‘will always be with us’, just like measles and similar diseases. Kennedy, a doctor himself, said that at some point he wanted access to the vaccines for his own patients.
The exchange took place when 1,299 new COVID-19 cases and 17 additional deaths due to the virus were reported in Utah on Wednesday. So far, 442,476 doses of vaccines have been administered in Utah, an increase of 16,778 since Tuesday.
Saunders said the state is counting on increased doses of the Pfizer and Moderna dual-dose vaccines already approved for use in the United States, as well as new vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson, which are rapidly becoming available to the federal government.
He said about 78% of the 274,000 health workers, first responders, K-12 teachers and state staff received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to about 43% of the estimated 241,000 Utahns 70 or older, most recently group to be eligible.
About 71 percent of Utah’s residents and staff in long-term care facilities have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to Dr. Michelle Hoffman, a newly appointed deputy director of the state health department, among the highest in the state. .
From March 1, Utahns 65 or older as well as those with specific medical conditions can be vaccinated. Rich Lakin, the state health department’s vaccination program manager, told the committee a number of partners are being brought in to manage sites where at least 1,000 vaccinations can be given daily.
These include Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah Health and Brigham Young University, Lakin said. A new state contract with Nomi Health, the Orem-based company behind the ‘Test Utah’ COVID-19 testing program, did not come up in the committee hearing.
Government Spencer Cox and Lieutenant General Deidre Henderson are expected to call on Thursday for volunteers to help at the massive vaccination sites, as well as with local health departments, ranging from medical professionals to Utahns who can handle logistics and data entry, the committee was informed.
Some Smiths and Walmart pharmacies are also going to offer vaccinations to Utahns who are eligible for the shots.
Appointments must be made online for the vaccinations that begin Thursday at 39 of the 53 Utap pharmacies in Smith, and Friday at 18 of Walmart’s 59 pharmacies and the Sam’s Club pharmacy in Logan. Patients are asked to bring information about the insurance, but vaccinations are also available to the uninsured through a new federal program.
Lakin said the inclusion of children in the vaccination program came around May with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has said so far that Utah has not yet joined another federal initiative, and that he will set up health centers for vaccinations in the state next week, including Colorado.
According to the state health department, the running average of seven days for positive tests in Utah is now 1,053 per day.
Another 23,334 tests for the deadly virus have been done in Utah since Tuesday, and the number of people tested has risen by 8,988. The seven-day moving average for the percentage of positive tests that include all tests taken is 7%, but the number rises to 15.3% if multiple tests for an individual over a 90-day period are excluded.
Currently, 323 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, which has pushed the total number of hospitalizations in the state to more than 14,000 since the onset of the pandemic nearly a year ago.
Utah’s death toll has now reached 1,765. The latest deaths are:
- A Box Elder County man, aged between 65 and 84, was admitted to hospital at the time of his death.
- A Box Elder County woman, 65-84, resident for long-term care.
- A Cache County man, over 85, has been admitted to hospital.
- A Carbon County woman over the age of 85 has been admitted to hospital.
- Two men in Salt Lake County, over 85, one in the hospital and the other a long-term care resident.
- A woman in Salt Lake County, over the age of 85, resident for long-term care.
- A Salt Lake County man, 65-84, was not admitted to the hospital at the time of his death.
- A Tooele County man, 65-84, has been admitted to hospital.
- Two men in Utah County, over 85, one in the hospital and the other a resident for long-term care.
- A woman in Utah County, older than 85, resident for long-term care.
- A woman in Wasatch County, older than 85, resident for long-term care.
- A woman from Weber County, over the age of 85, resident for long-term care.
- A Weber County man, over 85, has been admitted to hospital.
- A Weber County man, 65-84, resident for long-term care.
- A Weber County man, 45-64, has been admitted to the hospital.