It's widely reported the Coronavirus vaccine is currently in short supply. According to a KCRG story, the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) recently announced an effort they hope will help ramp up Iowa's vaccine allocation. It seems those eligible and wanting it should consider getting it as soon as possible, so that supply can increase more quickly as it becomes available.

It will require counties in the state to use 80 percent of their already allotted supply before having more distributed to them.

The state told counties about the new allocation guidelines in a webinar last week that has since been taken down, perhaps to tweak the guidelines, which are currently as follows:

  • In order to receive weekly allocations beginning 2/12/21, counties must demonstrate an 80 percent utilization rate the prior week.
  • The allocation rate will be calculated every Thursday morning, thus determining the allocation that will go to the county on Friday for the next week.
  • This is a bunch of inside math, but basically, the "numerator", number of prime doses administered in the county from the prior Thursday through Wednesday will be divided by the "denominator", number of doses received in the county the previous Tuesday through Friday.

68 percent of doses already allocated to Iowa counties have reportedly been administered. It sounds good, but it's the fourth lowest rate in the country, according to KCRG, and obviously not the 80 percent threshold needing to be reached to get more.

Here's where it gets a little fishy because every county health department in Iowa that responded says they're reporting meeting the 80 percent threshold, so how is it that the state overall is not? IDPH hasn't answered that at this time. Also, some counties are saying they are reserving their allotments to give to groups of eligible Iowans like teachers, all at once. It's not known how many of the counties in the state have NOT used their 80 percent. The guidelines are set to take effect this Friday.

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LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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