State cuts off Washington County vaccines

Washington County Public Health was blindsided by the state's decision last week to hold back the county's weekly allotment of COVID-19 vaccines last week.

The state announced last week that five counties did not meet the threshold of administering 80 percent of their vaccines on hand and was holding back their next allotment of vaccines.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski said that she was notified of the state's decision Thursday.

'We got the call (from the state) Thursday after our mass vaccination clinic in Wellman,” Pettit-Majewski said.

The Thursday clinic in Wellman had been rescheduled from the previous Saturday due to inclement weather.

Pettit-Majewski said that she had been in contact with state officials about the postponement.

'We were told that we wouldn't be penalized if we had to cancel because of weather,” she said. 'We let the state know what we had coming up for clinics.”

Despite the earlier reassurances, the state changed course and made the decision to withhold the next allotment of vaccines, Pettit-Majewski said.

Doses are being distributed based on population and a handful of counties have lagged below administering 80 percent of the doses they have received, said Kelly Garcia, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services and acting head of the Iowa Department of Public Health.

'We're going to give them a little bit of a break to catch up. That is really a measure not to be punitive to those five counties,” Garcia said. 'We know how hard everyone is working, but it really is to make sure that we're then giving that chance to those counties that are moving through their vaccine allocation, that we're getting it out to the Iowans who need it.”

She said the reduction won't be 'a forever withhold,” and the counties would get their full allocation back if they hit the 80 percent threshold.

Pettit-Majewski said that more than 400 vaccine doses were administered in Washington County last week.

They still have some doses that have not been administered, but they are spoken for.

'We have vaccines allocated for pod clinics,” she said.

Pod clinics are special vaccination clinics for targeted tiers in Phase 1B of the vaccination plan. Those tiers include first responders, law enforcement, firefighters and educators.

The next mass vaccination clinic for people age 65 and older is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22 at the Washington YMCA.

Appointments for that clinic can be made starting Tuesday morning by calling 319-653-3030 beginning at 9 a.m.

Pettit-Majewski said that she expects no issues with the clinic.

'I'm comfortable moving forward with the next mass vaccination clinic,” she said. 'I feel confident we'll meet that 80 percent burn rate.

'We're under assurance that if we move forward with the plans that we have in place, it will only be a one-week pause.”

Rod Boshart of The Gazette contributed to this story.