(Des Moines) Governor Kim Reynolds announced at her press conference this morning that the state is working with Regents, private and community colleges to support the vaccination of college students and staff before they leave campus for the summer.
Reynolds said this will protect their families upon their return home and it will ensure that they have been vaccinated before they come back to school for the fall semester.
Reynolds also mentioned that Iowa will see a significant increase in the amount of COVID-19 vaccines received; Iowa’s largest allocation to date. She said Iowa will receive 120,000 doses for the state and another 41,000 for Iowa’s Retail Pharmacy partners.
As a reminder, on Monday, April 5th all eligible Iowans can be vaccinated. Those age 16 and up can receive the Pfizer vaccine and ages 18 and up are eligible for the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Reynolds said in addition to briefing Governor’s on vaccine allocation this week, the White House COVID Response Team also emphasized that while we must be focused on vaccination we can’t forget that until the majority of Americans and Iowans are vaccinated we need to remain intent on managing virus activity. Reynolds said this is something Iowa’s COVID Response team continues to monitor on a daily basis.
Reynolds noted that more than 1.52 million doses of vaccine have been administered to eligible Iowans 18 and older, an 86 percent administration rate in the state of Iowa. 40 percent of Iowans 18 and older have received at least one dose, 85 percent of Iowans 65 and older have at least one dose, and 603,000 Iowans are now fully vaccinated; that’s about 25% of the population.
