OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - More than 100 Nebraska hospitals and health facilities are expected to receive a new coronavirus vaccine next week, but the state won’t be getting as many overall doses as initially projected this month because of shipping delays, state officials said Wednesday.
Officials said the state will get 32,400 doses of the vaccine from Moderna, assuming that the company’s drug wins federal approval on Thursday. Those doses will go to 112 Nebraska hospitals, health centers and health departments, including many in rural areas.
“We are ready to accept those shipments,” said Angie Ling, incident commander for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
The first 15,600 doses from drug manufacturer Pfizer arrived in Nebraska this week.
Ling said those vaccines have gone to 13 hospitals, and 1,746 people - primarily front-line health workers - have received the first of two doses necessary to achieve full immunity. Those recipients will get their second shots in January because the drug requires a three- to four-week waiting period between doses to be effective.
Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska officials are expecting about 82,000 doses from the two companies by the end of December. State officials had originally projected 104,000 doses, but another shipment expected from Pfizer next week was postponed. It wasn’t immediately clear when those shipments would arrive.
“In any new distribution process, there are logistical hiccups,” Ling said in a statement after the governor’s news conference. “This is especially true with such a massive and delicate operation such as this - but we expect that those minor delays will be solved shortly by Pfizer.”
Ricketts said he’s confident that, even with the delay, Nebraska will still be able to offer vaccinations to the general public by April as expected. The state’s distribution plan calls for the first doses to go to front-line medical workers, along with teachers, meatpacking workers, first responders and other people in critical industries who are more likely to encounter the virus.
Despite the new shipments, Ricketts urged residents to continue avoiding crowds, confined spaces and close contact with other people outside their household.
“We’ve still got work ahead of us with regard to slowing the spread of the virus,” he said.
Even so, state officials have relaxed some restrictions. Some cities have eased their rules as well. And on Tuesday, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced that it will once again allow inmate visits at five of its prisons starting Dec. 23. Director Scott Frakes said family members and friends will have to register for a visit in advance, wear masks and socially distance themselves.
Ricketts also announced Wednesday that the Nebraska National Guard will be contacting local governments and businesses to get an accurate count of the number of people who will need a vaccination in the coming months.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Nebraska continued to decline as of Tuesday after a sharp increase in November that prompted Ricketts to tighten some social distancing rules.
The state’s hospitals held 677 total patients as of Tuesday evening out of 4,043 total staffed beds, according to Nebraska’s online tracking portal.
The state confirmed 1,517 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and the numbers have trended downward since reaching a single-day high of 3,443 on Nov. 16. Nebraska reported 150,861 confirmed cases and 1,438 deaths since the pandemic began.
___
Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte
Please read our comment policy before commenting.