It Will Take Nearly 2 Years to Vaccinate RI for Coronavirus, Even Doubling Current Pace

It Will Take Nearly 2 Years to Vaccinate RI for Coronavirus, Even Doubling Current Pace

According to the Rhode Island Department of Health, the state had administered 17,020 vaccines in the first 17 days of vaccine availability --  the state averaged almost exactly 1,000 shots a day.

In the past 5 days — the pace has increased to just over 1,400 vaccinations per day. As of Sunday, 24,000 Rhode Islanders have received a first vaccine shot. It takes two shots to be fully vaccinated. 

Even if the state doubled its improved rate of vaccination, it would take Rhode Island upwards of two years based on just 80% of the eligible target population receiving a full vaccination.

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Governor Gina Raimondo had promised in November that Rhode Island would be vaccinated by the end of the spring of 2021, but that claim looks to be unachievable.

Remember, both vaccines -- the Pfizer one and the Moderna version now approved for usage in Rhode Island -- require two shots.

In total, Rhode Island has received 50,000 dosages to date.

 

Was Rhode Island Ready? Is Rhode Island Ready?

In anticipation of receiving the vaccines — the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, Raimondo had repeatedly stated that the state was ready, it just needed delivery.

But, two weeks after the delivery the Raimondo administration was still defining who and when Rhode Islanders would receive the vaccine. 

Last week, RI Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott briefed reporters on Phase 1 — two weeks after Rhode Island first received shipment.

Now, weeks after receiving shipments, and beyond the 24,000 who have been vaccinated, RI has also set aside for more than 10,000 dosages for nursing home patients that have yet to be given.

“We have set aside roughly 11,000 doses for vaccinating in nursing homes over the next two weeks,” said Joseph Wendelken, spokesperson for the RI Department of Health.

“We’re getting roughly 14,000 doses a week. Generally speaking, the doses getting administered are the doses that arrived in Rhode Island the previous week. (So, this week, the doses that arrived last week will be getting administered.) Vaccine is going straight to the hospitals, but for the vaccinating happening at most other sites, the vaccine has to be redistributed in smaller quantities after coming to a centralized site in Rhode Island in bulk,” Wendelken added.

“Also, due to the need for social distancing, a lot of planning has to go into vaccination events once vaccine arrives. Appointments need to be scheduled for people, people have to complete their paperwork online, and they have to show up to get vaccinated within their assigned window. (This is a major difference between this mass vaccination effort and the H1N1 vaccination effort a decade ago, when we were dealing with a virus with much lower transmission rates.),” he added.

Nationally, the federal government has distributed 20 million doses, but only 4.2 vaccinations have been implemented by the states.