(Des Moines) Governor Kim Reynolds at her press conference this morning announced when the first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccines are anticipated to arrive in Iowa.
Reynolds said, pending approval, they anticipate the first shipment of approximately 26,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine around December 13th. During the week of December 20th they will receive additional Pfizer vaccine doses and, pending approval, the first shipment of 54,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine will arrive. The week of December 27th there will be another 95,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and another shipment of Moderna vaccine.
Reynolds said it’s this initial quantity of vaccines that will be prioritized according to the recommendations of the CDC.
Department of Human Resources Director Kelly Garcia said as more COVID 19 vaccine becomes available, additional populations will be added and more people will be able to receive the vaccine.
Garcia said in additional to vaccine distribution they are seeing tremendous progress in the availability of therapeutic treatments.
Garcia said while this is long awaited good news, she wants to underscore that life will not immediately be back to normal and you should continue all of the necessary mitigation efforts.
Governor Reynolds also noted that the CDC has reduced the length of quarantine for those who have been exposed to COVID-19. You can now end quarantine after 10 days if you haven’t developed any symptoms or after 7 days if you don’t have any symptoms and you have a negative test. The shortened quarantine does not apply if you are sick or have tested positive; then you should follow the full 14-day quarantine. Reynolds said this will be adopted in Iowa’s guidance.
