When will all adults wishing for the COVID-19 vaccine be available?

Salt Lake City — Mass COVID-19 vaccination site is expected to go live in Utah in March and three months, and all Utahs wishing to be protected from the virus should have the opportunity to receive shots. Health officials told state legislators Wednesday.

“If 100% of adults want, we’ll reach all adults by the end of May,” Utah Health Department Secretary-General Rich Sanders told members of the State Legislature’s Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.

That is as long as the vaccine manufacturer implements the promised dose increase.

“So you promise that the mask will come off by May or June, and can we all just open and start behaving normally again? That’s what I heard “Are you?” Commission Chairman R-Alpine Senator Mike Kennedy asked in the latest information on COVID-19, which focuses on vaccination.

Sanders laughed before answering, “That’s not what I said,” and Kennedy interrupted with seemingly false frustration, explaining, “Oh no.”

The Executive Secretary continued. “But I tell you this: Man, we have our eyesight in understanding when it is because I first remove this mask and celebrate is.”

It won “Amen” from Kennedy. He later said he believed that it was “very obvious” that the virus was “always with us,” like measles and similar illnesses. The doctor himself, Kennedy said he wanted to have access to the vaccine at some point for his own patients.

The exchange took place as 1,299 new COVID-19 cases, with 17 additional deaths from the virus reported in Utah on Wednesday. Utah has been vaccinated 442,476 times to date, an increase of 16,778 times since Tuesday.

According to Sanders, the state will increase the dose of Pfizer and Moderna double-dose vaccines already approved for use in the United States, and new vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson, will soon be available from the federal government. Is expected.

He has about 78% of the state’s 274,000 health care workers, first-time responders, kindergarten-to-high school teachers, and staff, compared to about 43% of Utah’s estimated 241,000 people over the age of 70. He said he had been vaccinated at least once. Recent groups are targeted.

Approximately 71% of Utah caregiver residents and staff are vaccinated at least once. This is the highest percentage in the country, according to Dr. Michel Hoffman, Deputy Director of the US State Department of Health. ..

From March 1st, Utahns and over 65 years old Specific medical condition You can also get vaccinated. Rich Lakin, vaccination program manager for the State Department of Health, told the committee that many partners are involved in running a site that can be vaccinated at least 1,000 times daily.

These include Intermountain Healthcare, the University of Utah Health, and Brigham Young University, Lakin said. A New state contract Nomi Health, an Orem-based company behind the “Test Utah” COVID-19 test program, did not attend the committee’s hearing.

Governor Spencer Cox and Deidre Henderson will call on volunteers to support the efforts of the local health sector on Thursday, from mass vaccination sites to Utine, which can handle logistics and data entry from healthcare professionals. The committee was told.

In addition, some Smith and Wal-Mart pharmacies will begin offering free vaccinations to Utahns targeted for shots.

Vaccination appointments starting at 39:00 on Thursday must be made online. Smith’s 53 Utah Pharmacies, and Friday 18 WalmartWith 59 pharmacies Sam’s club Logan’s pharmacy. Patients are required to bring insurance information, but uninsured people can also be vaccinated through a new federal program.

Reakin said the inclusion of children in the vaccination program around May came up in discussions with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said Utah has not been part of another federal initiative so far and will set up a health center for vaccination in states, including Colorado, starting next week.

According to the State Department of Health, the 7-day rolling average of positive tests in Utah is currently 1,053 per day.

Since Tuesday, another 23,334 deadly viruses have been tested in Utah, increasing the number of people tested by 8,988. The 7-day rolling average of the percentage of positive tests, including all tests performed, is 7%, but excluding multiple tests for individuals over 90 days, that number rises to 15.3%.

Currently, 323 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, and the total number of hospitalizations in the state has exceeded 14,000 since the pandemic began almost a year ago.

The death toll in Utah currently reaches 1,765. The recent deaths are:

• A man from Box Elder County, aged 65 to 84, was hospitalized at the time of his death.
• Female, Box Elder County, 65-84 years old, resident of a long-term care facility.
• A man in Cash County over the age of 85 was hospitalized.
• A carbon county woman over the age of 85 was hospitalized.
• Two Salt Lake County men over the age of 85. One is hospitalized and the other lives in a long-term care facility.
• Female in Salt Lake County, over 85 years old, resident in a long-term care facility.
• A man from Salt Lake County, 65-84 years old, not hospitalized at the time of death.
• A man in Tooele County, hospitalized between the ages of 65 and 84.
• Two Utah County men over the age of 85. One is hospitalized and the other lives in a long-term care facility.
• Utah County female, over 85 years old, resident of a long-term care facility.
• A woman from Wasatch County, over 85 years old, a resident of a long-term care facility.
• Female in Weber County, over 85 years old, resident in a long-term care facility.
• A Weber County man over the age of 85 was hospitalized.
• A male from Weber County, 65-84 years old, a resident of a long-term care facility.
• A man from Weber County was hospitalized between the ages of 45 and 64.