BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will wait his turn in line to get a coronavirus vaccination.
The 64-year-old Republican governor told a Fargo-area chamber of commerce panel on a videoconference this week that he will be “way down the line” when it comes to his eligibility.
“I don’t have any underlying health conditions and I don’t have any age vulnerabilities and I’m not a health care worker, so I’ll be in line – way down the line, I guess in terms of people, in terms of eligibility to receive the vaccine.” Burgum told the panel. “But when that day, when the day happens, I’ll be happy to roll up my sleeve and get a vaccine, because these vaccines are safe, they’re effective.”
Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki said the governor has never tested positive for COVID-19.
Burgum struck a positive tone Wednesday at his weekly coronavirus update, calling the vaccine, along with increased rapid testing and the availability of therapeutic drugs, “powerful new tools.”
A nurse at a Mandan long-term care facility and a physician at Bismarck received the vaccination at the governor’s press conference.
North Dakota’s initial doses of the vaccine began arriving on Monday. The limited supply is prioritized for frontline health care workers and nursing home residents. Vaccinations for the general public could be available in the spring, health officials have said.
Molly Howell, the agency’s immunization program manager, said the state so far has received more than 6,800 doses of the vaccine but has an additional 13,200 on order.
Howell said more than 800 health care workers had received the vaccine so far.
Howell said vaccinations for nursing home residents should begin shortly after Christmas.
North Dakota has had nearly 1,200 deaths since the pandemic began, including 24 reported Wednesday, and 115 in the past week.
Burgum said more than half of the deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities.
The state’s death count is ranked 41st in the country but is the fifth highest per capita at 152 deaths per 100,000 people, according to figures compiled by The COVID Tracking Project.
The state said there were 160 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday. Burgum said that’s a more than 50% drop from the peak hospitalizations set last month.
The most recent data shows 37 staffed intensive care unit beds and 347 staffed inpatient beds available statewide.
There were 1,160 new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks in North Dakota, which ranks 11th in the country for new cases per capita. One in every 161 people in North Dakota tested positive in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
North Dakota had been one of the worst-affected states in recent months, registering the highest rate of infection for many weeks.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
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