INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa governor has canceled COVID-19 allocations for Buchanan, Hancock and three other counties, creating uncertainty about planned vaccinations for next week.
Buchanan County health officials confirmed that it is one of five counties notified Thursday night by the Iowa Governor’s Office that they have not met the state’s new 80% usage requirements for multiple doses. The Iowa Department of Public Health declined to identify the other four affected counties. In an e-mail, Sarah Ekstrand’s spokeswoman said: “We believe that the disclosure of the names of the five counties does not support the expected outcome of the process, which is to give them the time they need to support their administration process. and to get back on track for new allowances for Iowans. ”
KCRG-TV9 was able to confirm that Hancock County in north-central Iowa is one of five counties.
Buchanan County Public Health Director Tai Burkhart told KCRG-TV9 that the county will meet that 80% threshold with the clinics it held on Thursday night and Friday. He had planned these clinics before the 80% rule was announced. Burkhart said the Iowa Department of Public Health knew about these planned clinics and said he would have an 80% grace period this week.
In an emergency call on Friday morning, the government said it would “reconsider” canceling these vaccine doses if the county could reach the 80% threshold by the end of Friday.
The Iowa Department of Public Health told KCRG-TV9 in an email that “the allocation break will allow each county to focus on administering the hundreds of unused doses they have at hand at that time.”
However, Buchanan County says hundreds of doses will not be available after Friday and will have to cancel a 400-person clinic planned for Tuesday.
“This is eroding their confidence in public health and eroding their confidence and the Iowa Department of Public Health not making decisions. The governor is not asking for advice from public health professionals,” Hunt said.
Buchanan County does not know if or when it will find out if the state has canceled its decision on how many doses it will receive next week, if any. The county moved on Friday to vaccinate more people, to exceed 80%, recalling the doses from a separate clinic that had scheduled to administer them early next week.
Hunt and Burkhart said the late amendment and notification of the rule did not allow Buchanan County time to adapt its vaccine clinics or plan to reach that 80% threshold.
“They change their rules so often that it’s very difficult to meet their requirements,” Hunt said.
Hunt is also an administrator for a nursing home and says the retention of vaccines is personal to her.
“I’m the one who has to hold hands when I get over this disease,” Hunt said. “So, if the inhabitants of Buchanan County will not be vaccinated, I am the end result.”
The governor’s office says the doses initially allocated to Buchanan and the other four counties will be “sent to other vaccine providers with greater administration capacity.”
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