CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - About 900 New Hampshire health care workers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus so far, but the state isn’t getting as many doses as it initially expected, state officials said Thursday.
Beth Daly, chief of the state Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, said 3,135 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been distributed to hospitals this week, and in the last two days, 901 workers have been vaccinated. About 100,000 health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities and first responders are in the high priority group for vaccinations, and those inoculations should be completed by the end of January, said Gov. Chris Sununu.
The state had expected to start with about 12,000 doses from Pfizer by next week, but that has been reduced to about 9,000, he said.
“Everybody gets their pro rata share by state, so New Hampshire isn’t treated any differently than any other state, but because of production and how they’re managing their production, unfortunately at least for the next couple weeks, it’s going to come in a little short of what we were originally told,” he said. “Still, 9,000 doses, we’ll take it and use it.”
Officials in numerous states said they are facing the same situation. Pfizer, however, issued a statement saying it is not having any production issues with the vaccine and no shipments are on hold or delayed.
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FEDERAL AID SPENDING
With two weeks left of the year, New Hampshire is spending its $2.5 billion in virus relief aid “almost down to the penny,” Sununu said Thursday.
States must return any money they don’t spend by Dec. 31. With some initial allocations resulting in lapsed funds - for example, only $15 million of the $50 million earmarked for broadband projects has been spent - the state announced several new appropriations. The university system of New Hampshire will be getting $4 million to support its virus testing operation, hospitals hard hit by the pandemic will get an additional $7 million and nonprofit organizations will get $12 million to help defray the cost of unemployment insurance, Sununu said.
“We’ve tried to schedule this out, and I think the team did a great job of making sure we had these funds available all the way to the end of the year,” he said.
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OUTDOOR DINING
Outdoor dining will return to Portsmouth on March 1, 2021, weather permitting.
The City Council voted unanimously on the date Monday, saying it was giving struggling restaurants “a small ounce of predictability” by guaranteeing the return of outdoor dining.
Officials also said they expect to extend the city’s mask mandate for public areas until June 1.
Restaurants in New Hampshire were allowed to open to outdoor dining in May after being limited to takeout and delivery. Many stopped outdoor dining by the end of November.
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THE NUMBERS
More than 33,000 people have tested positive for the virus in New Hampshire, with 872 cases announced Thursday that included results from several days earlier in the week. The state announced four new deaths, bringing the total to 629.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in New Hampshire has risen over the past two weeks from 508 new cases per day on Dec. 2 to 834 new cases per day on Wednesday.
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