Iowa welcomes boost of COVID-19 vaccine

The race to vaccinate Iowans as COVID-19 activity rebounds continues this week as Iowa works to distribute a boost in vaccine supply.

Last week the state received 160,770 total doses of vaccine, which is their biggest allotment since distribution began. A substantial portion of the allotment consisted of Johnson & Johnson's new one-shot vaccine, which has been eagerly anticipated across the state.

(Publisher's note: This article was written prior to the CDC's pausing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine distribution, citing the need to examine potential risks of blood clots stemming from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.)

"Those Johnson & Johnson doses will allow us to continue the remaining employer vaccination clinics, begin vaccinating college students this week, and support our local public health's efforts to vaccinate hard to reach populations," said Governor Kim Reynolds during her weekly press conference on Wednesday, April 7.

The record setting amount of vaccine allotment is not expected to last though. The surge in Johnson & Johnson supply is due to a large amount of their stockpile being cleared by the FDA for distribution from one of their third-party manufacturers. However, now that the stockpile is out, supply will return to previous levels through the foreseeable future.

"Until then we'll adjust our plans accordingly over the next two weeks," said Reynolds.

The State of Iowa administered another 215,894 doses of vaccine last week, bringing the total doses administered to 1,865,510. This includes 880,718 doses of Moderna; 908,829 doses of Pfizer; and 75,963 doses of Johnson and Johnson's Janssen vaccine.

Another 110,993 Iowans completed their vaccination series in the last week. With 697,915 completing their two dose vaccination and another 75,963 that have received the J&J vaccine, that brings the total number of vaccinated Iowans to 773,878.

As of Sunday, April 11, there have been 357,018 individuals positive with COVID-19 in the state, increasing the 353,357 total from the week prior by 3,661, roughly the same number of new cases as the previous week and the week before that.

The state has performed a total of 4,584,808 tests on 1,666,423 individuals since the pandemic began, including 2,987,707 PCR tests and 1,597,101 antigen tests. In the last week, the state has processed 47,131 PCR tests and 40,260 antigen tests.

In the last week, 8% of new cases have been among the elderly (age 80+), 14% among older adults (60-79); 29% among middle aged adults (40-59); 45% among young adults (18-39); and 4% among children.

Every the percentage of new positive cases is down for every demographic except young adults, which tracks with the idea that the recent surge is being fueled by young people returning from Spring Break.

119,915 Iowans have undergone serology testing for coronavirus antibodies, which would indicated that they have had the virus. Of that number, 22,591, about 19% have tested positive for antibodies.

Of the 1,123 individuals tested in the last week, 236 of them (20%) have tested positive.

Hospitalizations also continue to rise, with 220 now hospitalized as of Sunday, an increase of 19 over the week prior. Severe cases increased as well, with 55 people currently in an ICU.

Reported deaths are down, with the state reporting 35 deaths last week, bringing the state's total to 5,857.

In total, approximately 3,438 elderly (58.7%); 2,015 older adults (34.42%), 352 middle aged adults (6.02%), 48 young adults (.81%), and at least one child (.03%) have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

The state has also reported 18 deaths from long term care facilities, bringing the total to 2,295.

A new outbreak has been reported in a long term care facility, bringing the total number of outbreaks up to three. The new outbreak brings the total number of active cases to 28, up 11 from the previous week.