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People in Omaha have questions about vaccine rollout, and they deserve answers. Today, I sent a letter to Governor Ricketts, Dannette Smith (NE DHHS CEO), and Dr. Adi Pour asking some questions about vaccine distribution. Long thread, but bear with me.
One privilege of running for office is that I get to talk to a wide variety of people every day. And something I keep hearing is that people are anxious to learn when, where, and how they and their loved ones can get vaccinated.
There is a lot of confusion, and public officials must make sure to communicate clearly all available information to the public. My questions:
Question #1: How many doses have been delivered to Nebraska? As of this morning, CDC reports that Nebraska has received 398,575 doses, but the Nebraska DHHS COVID-19 vaccination dashboard reports that the state has 262,750 doses. This is a difference of 135,825 doses (34%).
Question #2: How many doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to Douglas County? Dr. Pour has reported that the county is administering all available doses, and the county dashboard says that 60,752 doses have been administered in Douglas County. But, see next tweet...
Depending on whether one uses federal or state data, this is equal to either 53% or 80%, respectively, of the total doses that Douglas County should have received. What accounts for this discrepancy?
Question #3: If Douglas County is receiving all doses it is supposed to get, then what has happened to the unadministered doses (either 54,276 or 15,078, depending, again on whether we’re looking at federal or state data)? Sitting in freezers? Thrown away? A reporting error?
Question #4: What is the timeline for when people in different subgroups of Phase IB and IC can expect to receive vaccines? DHHS’s timeline currently indicates that members of the 1B group, a large and varied group, will be vaccinated sometime Jan.-May. This is a wide range.
Question #5: When, as predicted, increased numbers of vaccine doses begin to make their way to Nebraska, where will new vaccination sites be?
Question #6: Will they be in different geographic areas so that all eligible residents, even those who don't own a vehicle, can access them?
Making sure that vaccination is accessible is important not only for the health of those individuals, but also for reducing community spread and helping bring this pandemic to an end.
I understand that handling this public health emergency is an enormous task, and that conditions constantly are changing. People across Omaha are confused, however, and they deserve to know what their state and local governments are doing to protect them and end this pandemic.
My full letter, including footnote citations and charts, is available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h2MJ0TS76NpA_nqcYi4lFtK4HLDKWPWX/view?usp=sharing.
