IowaBio COVID-19 Update

IowaBio wants to provide our members useful information during the COVID-19 pandemic. This newsletter compiles information on state, federal and industry action to combat the virus and its impacts.

If your company is helping respond to COVID-19, IowaBio wants to know about it. Please, send any information about what your biotechnology company or organization is doing to help, to Jessica Hyland at Jessica@iowabio.org.

If IowaBio can assist you in getting information out, connecting with public officials, or support your company in another way, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Past IowaBio COVID-19 Update newsletters are now available at www.iowabio.org/COVID19 and can be found under the Industry News tab on the IowaBio website.

Iowa Update

Governor’s press conference NOTE: IMPORTANT VACCINE INFORMATION BELOW

The Governor said the Whitehouse COVID-19 response team gave an update on vaccine allocations. Next week’s allocation will be the same as this week; However, things start looking up during the week of March 29 when potentially 20 million doses nationwide increase in weekly supply, which could include 4-6 million doses of the J&J one-dose vaccine. Then in April weekly allocations could increase to exceed 22 million doses. Iowa will receive about 1 percent of that allocation per week.

More vaccines means opportunities to vaccinate even more Iowans, she said. She discussed recent vaccination clinics and how communities are impacting smaller communities around them by coordinating mass vaccination clinics to serve Iowans regionally.

In the last couple of weeks, more and more people have commented that we have turned a corner and I believe we have, she said. Iowa’s recovery is in a strong position. Now that our national vaccine supply is projected to significantly increase in the next two weeks, and Iowans have demonstrated our ability to work together and ensure vaccines are administered efficiently and responsibly, I’m confident that we’re prepared to open up even more, she said.

“Today, I’m announcing that all Iowans will be eligible for vaccination starting Monday April 5, as long as our vaccine allocation increases as we’ve been told and as we are expecting,” the Governor said. Getting vaccinated is the most important thing we can do to make sure our recovery is strong and sustainable, she said. Getting back to normal will depend on all of us doing our part. Let’s pledge that you’ll be vaccinated as soon as you can, and encourage your family and co-workers to do the same. Let’s finish strong together, she said.

Next week they will have the Whitehouse call and she can give another update about the vaccine allocations by next Wednesday. They are still a full week out to get it opened up, and in the meantime they will keep working on manufacturing and ag workers.

Once J&J vaccine allocations pick up, they will resume manufacturing, food distribution and processing, and ag production workers. Some employers continue on their own to vaccinate employees with other providers. We’ve vaccinated 50,000 of the 160,000 workers in that cohort. With the number of employers taking the initiative to schedule with other providers, we can finish this cohort even sooner, she said.

Iowa continues to gain momentum in our recovery from COVID-19, the Governor said. Hospitalizations are down 90 percent from the peak in November. As of yesterday, only one long-term care facility is on the outbreak list. We expect that just days from now, no long-term care facilities will be in outbreak status. The vaccine is working and life is getting back to normal, she said.

Currently the CDC is reporting 1.15 million vaccines have been administered, which is 86 percent of all doses available and Iowa ranks 5 in the nation. Iowa is 2nd in the nation for the percentage of J&J administered. We are 12^th in the nation or 31 percent of those 18 and up have one or more doses. 17 percent are fully vaccinated. 95.3 percent 65 and up have had at least one dose. 28.3 percent 18 and up have had at least one dose.

By the end of this month, every long-term care facility in the state will have completed the federal vaccination program. Currently vaccine providers are making stops in some facilities where some residents need their second dose. Nearly 90 percent of residents and 60 percent of staff have chosen to be vaccinated.

Nationwide nearly 3 million doses have been vaccinated through the federal long-term care pharmacy program. The updated CDC guidance released last week allows for responsible indoor visitation, regardless of vaccination status, with some exceptions. Families can be reunited in person without barriers.

The 211 program that started just a week ago, has scheduled 3,000 appointments at Hy-Vees across the state. Hy-Vee is able to move additional vaccine and open more appointments in areas of more demand. Hy-Vee is opening special clinics to accommodate additional individuals in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

They are assessing whether 211 will expand to serve those below age 65. Right now they need to maintain it for those 65 and older because of demand but they are looking at that. They are continually examining ways to get the most people vaccinated as possible.

She addressed a question about polls that suggested many Republican men and Trump supporters are hesitant to get vaccinated. She said she’s encouraging all Iowan’s to be vaccinated. She said she and Kevin got the vaccine to show the vaccines are good vaccines. She says more and more people might consider it as more people get the vaccine. Anecdotally she said educators and staff have a very good uptake rate, and the numbers are overall pretty positive.

Key Statistics

Iowa
Tuesday, the vaccine reporting system Iowa Immunization Registry Information System or IRIS crashed, impacting vaccine data reporting to the vaccine dashboard. Read more here. This update reports vaccine data since our last update on Monday, since we were unable to report Tuesday. The overall number of vaccines administered is 1,140,550 an increase of 26,554 since Tuesday, with 320,965 receiving their first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and 394,555 receiving their second dose. 30,475 have received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

To find vaccine providers in your county, click here or scroll to the bottom of the vaccine dashboard. If you need a vaccine appointment, vaccinate.iowa.gov has launched to help connect Iowans eligible for the vaccine with providers. Iowans 65 and older who have not yet gotten an appointment can call 211 for assistance. For vaccine eligibility information and timelines click here. For new vaccine allocation data overall and by county, click here.

Currently, on the state’s coronavirus dashboard 372,172 positive tests were reported, up 381 from our update yesterday morning, with a total of 4,284,246 tests.

9 additional deaths were reported since our last update, bringing the total to 5,666 deaths.

The total 14 day rolling average positivity rate is 4.0% the past 7-day average is 4.1%.

The latest on hospitalizations, can be found here. There are currently 171 hospitalized patients—up 10 since yesterday-- with 41 in the ICU, and 27 admitted in the last 24 hours.

US
Total Cases 29,374,758
Total Deaths 534,099
Total Vaccination Doses Administered 113,037,627

World
Total Cases 121,361,314
Total Deaths 2,682,660

BIO Pipeline Tracker
852 Unique compounds in development
212 vaccines
244 antivirals
396 treatments