Vermont reported 69 new cases of Covid-19 today and four new deaths, bringing the total deaths to 134, according to Department of Health data.
It also updated its weekly vaccine dashboard, showing that 11,157 people have been given their first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 1.9% of the Vermont population age 16 or older. About 6,800 were given the first dose in the past week.
No one has received the second shot that gives a more than 90% immunity to Covid, as that second dose has to be given weeks after the first. At the moment, the only people being vaccinated are health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
The state has been allocated 32,000 doses of the vaccine, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said at a press conference Tuesday. That would suggest about a third of doses provided to the state have been used.
National data collected by The Washington Post shows that 2.1 million have been vaccinated and 11.4 million doses distributed, giving a use rate of about 18%, far lower than Vermont’s.
However, officials have said the vaccine data for Vermont’s long-term care providers is on a three-day reporting delay, so it’s likely that national vaccine data is on a delay as well, which means the totals for both could be far higher.
With a vaccination rate of 6,800 people per week, it would take well over a year for Vermont to hit its target. But the state has plans to ramp up its vaccination numbers.
Smith said Tuesday that the pharmacies vaccinating people in long-term care facilities were going to begin accelerating the pace of their vaccinations for Phase 1A.
Beyond that, the state has announced that after completing Phase 1A, it would begin vaccinating by “age banding” — for example, vaccinating Vermonters 75 and older, then 70 and older, then 65 and older. People with underlying health conditions will also be prioritized.
For that part of the vaccination strategy, primary care doctors, local health departments and even Covid testing sites could become vaccination clinics — meaning that the number of Vermonters vaccinated per day should rise.
It’s still a very large swath of the population. About 125,000 Vermonters are above the age of 65, and Department of Health data shows that as many as 318,000 people have a chronic health condition, although that includes a broad range of health issues. The state has not fully defined what conditions will qualify someone to be prioritized.
As of Wednesday’s data, people age 65 or older form a relatively small percent of vaccine recipients, with people age 35 to 49 forming the largest group with 1,318 vaccines. That may be because long-term care patients started being vaccinated a week or so after health care workers.
White people have the highest vaccination rate, with 1.7% of white Vermonters having been vaccinated compared to 0.4%-1.0% for other ethnicities; 1.6% of non-Hispanic Vermonters have been vaccinated, compared to 1.4% of Hispanic Vermonters.
Bennington and Windham counties have the highest vaccination rate, while Essex and Washington counties had the lowest.
