Carroll County has received an additional 500 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as we move from phase 1A to phase 1B this week. Dr. Kyle Ulveling, Chief Medical Officer at St. Anthony Regional Hospital, explains that front-line healthcare workers in the region received the first and second doses of the Moderna vaccine while long-term care facility residents and staff received Pfizer’s. As we transition into phase 1B this week, he says they are looking forward to some good news on additional vaccines being FDA approved.
He expects at least one of those to be approved in the next month. Doubling the number of manufacturers, he says, will help alleviate one of the biggest issues with the rollout, and that is a shortage of doses. On Monday, the Iowa Department of Public Health issued a notice that the United Kingdom variant of COVID has appeared in Iowa. Ulveling explains they are being told the vaccines will protect against this new strain. But there are others coming to light as well.
Carroll County Public Health Director, Nicole Schwering, says they have been able to use more than 100 percent of the doses they have received to date, sometimes gettingan additional dose from a vial. The slow rollout is frustrating, but she outlines who will be the first patients to receive the vaccine as they enter tier one of phase 1B.
Schwering stresses healthcare workers will call those who are eligible to receive a vaccination. They are asking residents to refrain from calling in to Public Health or their providers to try to get on the list. Dr. Ulveling says they have outlined specific protocols be followed by the county’s providers.
He says they won’t be in lockstep with each other, but the communities will transition closely together to ensure they are covering everyone in one group before moving to the next. The vaccine is also only available to residents of Carroll County or those eligible who work in Carroll County. As they move through the tiers, Schwering describes the next in line in phase 1B.
Schwering says this phase includes a lot of individuals and it will take months to get this done. They are anticipating that if they continue to get the estimated weekly dosage and the new vaccines as they become available, it will likely be March before phase 1B is completed in Carroll County. With the Moderna vaccine, shot number two will be four weeks after the first and Ulveling says with their experience, many of those under 65 reported a day or so of symptoms. These included sore arm, lethargy, fatigue, some were sick to their stomach and about five percent were ill enough to stay home from work the next day. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are considered 95 percent effective while the Johnson and Johnson and Novavax are effective in the mid-80th percentile, meaning mitigation protocols are still needed. And even though the newest two have a lower effective rate, it is still much better than nothing at all, Ulveling says. The full interview with Dr. Ulveling and Schwering can be found below.
Full interview with Dr. Kyle Ulveling and Nicole Schwering:
https://www.1380kcim.com/episode/kcim-interview-dr-kyle-ulveling-and-ccph-director-nikki-schwering/
