INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa governor has rescinded COVID-19 allocations in Buchanan, Hancock and three other counties, creating uncertainty over vaccines scheduled for next week.
Buchanan County health officials confirmed it was one of five counties notified Thursday evening by the Iowa Governor’s Office that they had not met the new 80% state use requirement to receive more doses. The Iowa Department of Public Health declined to identify the other four affected counties. In an email, spokeswoman Sarah Ekstrand said that “we believe that disclosing the names of the five counties does not support the intended outcome of the process, which is to give them the time they need to strengthen their administration process and back on track to receive new assignments in Iowans “.
KCRG-TV9 was able to confirm that Hancock County, in north-central Iowa, is among the five counties.
Tai Burkhart, Buchanan County Public Health Director, told KCRG-TV9 that the county will meet that 80% threshold with the clinics it held Thursday night and Friday. He had planned these clinics before the 80% rule was announced. Burkhart said the Iowa Department of Public Health was aware of these planned clinics and had said he would have a grace period on the 80% rule this week.
In an emergency call Friday morning, the governor’s office said it would “reconsider” canceling those vaccine doses if the county could reach its 80% threshold by the end of Friday.
The Iowa Department of Public Health told KCRG-TV9 by email that “the pause in the allocation will allow each county to focus on administering the several hundred unused doses they have on hand during this time. “.
However, Buchanan County says it will not have hundreds of doses left to administer after Friday and will have to cancel a 400-person clinic scheduled for Tuesday.
“This is eroding their confidence in public health and eroding their confidence and the Iowa Department of Public Health who are not making the decisions, the governor is not asking for advice from public health professionals,” Hunt said.
Buchanan County does not know if or when it will know if the state has reversed its decision on how many doses, if any, it will receive next week. The county moved to vaccinate even more people Friday to exceed 80% recalling doses from an independent clinic that had scheduled to administer them early next week.
Hunt and Burkhart said the late rule change and notice did not give Buchanan County time to adjust its vaccine clinics or plan to reach that 80% threshold.
“They change their rules about us so often that it’s very difficult to meet their demands,” Hunt said.
Hunt is also a residence manager and says vaccine retention is personal to her.
“I’m the one who has to hold hands when they die of this disease,” Hunt said. “So if Buchanan County residents don’t get vaccinated, I’m the end result.”
The Governor’s Office says the doses initially allocated by Buchanan and the other four counties “will be sent to other vaccine providers with higher administration capacity.”
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