The Vermont Department of Health announced Wednesday that it would no longer publish daily updates to its Covid-19 vaccine dashboard. Instead, the department plans to update the dashboard each Wednesday.
The dashboard first debuted in 2021, at a time when tens of thousands of Vermonters were receiving their first Covid vaccine doses each week. But vaccination progress has slowed in recent months.
“We are finding that the vaccination data are not changing significantly from day to day, so we are reducing the frequency of the updates,” health department spokesperson Ben Truman said via email.
About 942 people received a booster dose of the Covid vaccine last week, the lowest number since adults first became eligible for the booster, according to the Department of Financial Regulation. Vermont remains first in the nation in most vaccination metrics, but ranks third for the percent of people 65 and older with boosters.
Vermont also recently announced that it would reduce the number of state-run vaccine clinics, instead encouraging people to get vaccinated through pharmacies and doctors’ offices. The remaining vaccine clinics will be walk-in only.
About 87% of Vermonters 5 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the health department reported. About 59% are up-to-date on their vaccinations, including the recommended booster doses.
— Erin Petenko
