Iowa Surpasses 1 Million Vaccine Doses Administered

The state’s coronavirus tracking website shows this afternoon that Iowa has officially surpassed administering one million doses of the vaccine. The count as of 12:30 stands at 1,031,962.

It’s a notable milestone for the state in its effort to bring the pandemic to a close, even as residents continue to get sick and die from the virus.

The state reports that 366,371 people have completed the full series of vaccines — most of those are ones who took the two-shot versions of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine. Another 25,866 have done the one-shot Janssen option. Another 324,153 have received their first shot, but not their second.

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About 21% of Iowa’s total population has now received at least one of the shots, with around 10% fully vaccinated. Although the Pfizer and Moderna require two doses to be fully effective, the initial shots do offer some added protection against the virus.

National Public Radio’s vaccine tracker now puts Iowa at 14th in the nation for first-dose administered per capita, and 33rd for full vaccinations completed. That’s much better than how Iowa started out the vaccine process compared to other states.

Since Monday of this week, the number of vaccines administered in Iowa have ranged from daily totals of about 21,000 to 30,000.

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The vaccine appears to be drastically slashing Iowa’s daily infection and death totals, with daily positive case numbers down to the levels they were around July of last year.

Still, the pandemic does continue on in the state, with 559 new Iowan positive tests today, along with 11 additional deaths. There are 168 people hospitalized with COVID-19, with 36 patients in the ICU and 13 on ventilators.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 3/12/21

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