More than 90,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were injected into Nebraskans’ arms last week, bringing to nearly 520,000 the number of shots injected in the state since vaccination began in December.
Nebraska ranks 16th in the nation in all shots delivered as a percentage of its 18-and-over population, about the same ranking as last week, according to a World-Herald analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. And as of Sunday, 194,000 Nebraskans had received both doses, ranking the state 12th in that category. At least 356,000 had received at least one dose.
Last week’s doses include an influx of 15,500 doses of the recently approved one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts noted Monday during a press conference that federal officials have told the state that it won’t receive more of that vaccine until late this month.
When asked whether he was concerned that more Nebraskans hadn’t yet signed up on the state’s website, Ricketts noted that the state still is focusing on vaccinating people 65 and older.
State health officials said last week that more than 234,800 Nebraskans had signed up for the shots as of Wednesday. However, some people signed up and scheduled appointments through local health departments before the state system launched Feb. 1. Those who were part of early vaccination groups — health care workers and staff and residents of long-term care facilities — did not register but do count among the state’s vaccination tally.
Ricketts encouraged Nebraskans to register for the vaccine at vaccinate.ne.gov or by calling 833-998-2275 toll-free if they don’t have access to a computer and need help signing up.
Ricketts said health officials are talking about different ways to expand vaccine distribution. But with limited amounts of vaccine still coming into the state, those aren’t yet necessary. He praised vaccination sites such as those at Creighton University in Omaha and the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, both of which have distributed several thousand doses in a given day. Both are run in conjunction with local health departments.
Ricketts also said Nebraskans for the most part will not be able to vaccine-shop at pharmacies in different communities. In Nebraska, residents register with the state and then receive notification when and where they’re eligible to get the vaccine.
“So there’s not going to be this mass going around the state looking for vaccines,” he said.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped slightly last week to 137, the lowest number since late August.
Nebraska recorded 1,972 new cases of COVID-19 for the week that ended Saturday, a number essentially unchanged from the previous week. Deaths have continued to tick down slightly. Thirty-one were recorded last week, down from 35 the previous week and 45 the week before that.
Two more local health departments have reported cases involving COVID-19 variants in the last several days.
The Three Rivers Public Health Department announced Monday that it had confirmed its first case of the B.1.1.7 variant in a 10-year-old in Dodge County.
The Sarpy/Cass Health Department on Friday confirmed its first case of that variant in a Sarpy County resident in his 30s.
Late last month, the state confirmed 13 cases of a variant called B.1.429, divided among Douglas and Lancaster Counties, southeast Nebraska’s Public Health Solutions health district and the Columbus-based East Center District Health Department. The B.1.1.7 variant also has been confirmed in Douglas County.
Both variants are transmitted more easily than the original COVID strain, but available vaccines are effective against the variants.