Gov. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday that the long-awaited vaccination of health care workers who deal directly with COVID-19 patients should begin next week with the arrival of the initial shipment of Pfizer vaccine.
But the governor said he has been notified to expect delays in delivery of the vaccine the following two weeks.
The first shipment is expected to contain 15,600 doses and will be sent to eight hospitals in the state, systems that support an additional nine hospitals.
Ricketts would not identify the hospitals because of security concerns, but said they encompass "the entire state."
On Tuesday, Bryan Health officials said the Lincoln hospitals expected to receive 3,000 doses in its first shipment. CHI Health, a group of hospitals including CHI St. Elizabeth in Lincoln, said it expected an initial delivery of 5,800 doses.
People are also reading…
While there may be some delay in the following Pfizer shipments, anticipated federal approval of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is expected to trigger shipments of its vaccine to Nebraska and other states shortly after Dec. 17, the governor said during a coronavirus news briefing.
With initial shipments of the vaccine targeted for health care workers, along with residents and staff at long-term care facilities, and with older Nebraskans and those with preexisting conditions recommended as priorities that may follow, access to the vaccine by the general public may wait until April.
That's the time frame that Ricketts said he anticipates and that, in turn, emphasizes "the need for social distancing through the entire winter," he said.
Two doses of the vaccine will be required, the governor pointed out, and people should anticipate the possibility of some side effects.
The expected delay in the following shipments of Pfizer vaccine may mean that the earlier anticipated arrival of 100,000 doses in Nebraska in December may not be achieved, Ricketts noted.
The governor's update came as COVID-19 hospitalizations in Nebraska continued to fall well behind the trigger point that Ricketts has established for a decision to increase coronavirus-related restrictions in the state.
Ricketts has said he would impose those restrictions if COVID-19 patients occupied 25% of the state's hospital beds.
Current figures as he spoke were 787 coronavirus patients and 4,003 staffed hospital beds, far below the 25% figure that would have led to new restrictions limiting indoor gatherings to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 25 people while restricting bars to pick-up and delivery sales.
Those heightened restrictions are already in place in Lancaster County.
Ricketts has made protection of hospital capacity the cornerstone of his COVID-19 strategy, even as deaths from COVID-19 continue to climb at a staggering pace in the state.
According to statistics compiled by the New York Times, Nebraska trails only South Dakota among states in deaths per capita over the last week.
Nebraska reported 1,277 deaths statewide as of Tuesday night, and is averaging 29 deaths a day over the past week.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department reported seven local deaths Wednesday, the most in a single day. Overall, 110 Lancaster County residents have died during the pandemic. Of those, more than a quarter — 31 — have occurred in the first nine days of December.
Twenty of the 31 December deaths in Lancaster County were residents of long-term care facilities.
As the state prepares for the launch of its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, Angie Ling, incident commander for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, urged Nebraskans to still be sure to get their flu shots this season.
Ricketts encouraged people to research the value of the COVID-19 vaccine, noting that early indications are that it is 95% effective.
"That's pretty amazing," he said. "That should give you confidence."
Asked whether he is ready to recognize that former Vice President Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump and will be the next president, the Republican governor said he believes the Dec. 14 meeting of the Electoral College will mark the official result.
"I assume he will get the electoral votes; that's when he becomes president-elect," Ricketts said.
If Biden's election is confirmed, the governor said, he hopes the new president will forge "strong relationships" with the governors as Trump did.