Minnesota Department of Health officials provided an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution Tuesday including when members of the general public can hope to receive theirs.
“If you are, like I see myself, an average Minnesotans, I don’t fall into certain high-risk groups, I’m not in an essential service category, and in my mind, I’m just thinking late spring and summer when I would prepare to be vaccinated,” State Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said.
As of now, Minnesota has administered more than 38,000 doses as of Saturday nearly all of which have been workers in hospital settings across the state. Ehresmann said it’s the federal government that allocates the number of vaccines to each state and that receiving, preparing and administering them takes patience...
“The recent news from Wisconsin of a clinic needing to throw out 500 doses of vaccine due to a handling error that left them unrefrigerated for too long underscores the importance of proper training,” Ehresmann said.
The state’s plan for group 1b which includes people 75 and older and essential workers is expected from the vaccine advisory committee the week of Jan. 18.
Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm announced case growth has dropped nearly 70 percent since the mid-November peak, and although testing volume has declined and the downward pace has slowed in the last week, she said it’s “still on the right track.” Malcolm said discussions about easing restrictions are “ongoing.”
“We keep talking about the fact that even with the steep rates of decline, we’re still at a pretty high level of viral activity, we’re still well above our high-risk indicators on some of those measures,” Malcolm said. “Definitely a significant improvement, but we’re still in a risky situation in terms of how easily these numbers can turn around and go the other way again.”
MDH reported Tuesday 66 deaths related to COVID-19 as well as 2,019 confirmed cases.
