DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - It’s unclear why Iowa will receive fewer doses of coronavirus vaccine than initially promised by the federal government, but the state is moving ahead with plans to relax restrictions beginning Thursday even while reporting nearly 100 additional deaths.
The Iowa Department of Public Health said Thursday it is now expecting 138,300 doses of vaccine by Dec. 27 while earlier estimates were for 172,000 doses.
“As we have said all along, these are planning numbers that will continue to change,” the department said in a statement. “IDPH is working through the distribution details with the revised vaccine allocation from CDC.”
The agency said it still plans on working with pharmacies to distribute vaccine to long-term care facilities the week of Dec. 28 as planned, though completion may take longer.
Senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the risk of delays, citing a confusion over semantics, while Pfizer said its production levels have not changed.
Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, citing improved treatment, arrival of a vaccine, and lower infection and hospitalization trends allowed bars and restaurants to return to normal business hours Thursday. Her earlier orders required them to close at 10 p.m. She also relaxed restrictions on crowd sizes and attendance at sporting events, saying “there’s no reason we can’t effectively live with COVID-19 a little longer.”
Iowa reported an additional 97 deaths Thursday, raising the state’s death toll to 3,451. Iowa has the 12th-highest per capita death rate in the nation at 106 per 100,000, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
The rate of infections and hospitalizations have dropped in recent weeks, but the state still posted 1,972 new confirmed positive cases in the past 24 hours.
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