(Des Moines, IA) -- Governor Kim Reynolds says all Iowans will become eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination, starting April 5th. She says the date is dependent on promised increases in vaccine allocation. She says those increases are going to be significant in the coming weeks.
Reynolds says the federal government is promising that during the week of March 29th, there could be 20-(m) million doses sent to states. She says based on those numbers all Iowans should have opportunities to get a vaccine.
Reynolds says more than 95-percent of Iowans 65 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and one third of employees in food processing and manufacturing have received at least one dose. She says the vaccination efforts at large employers had been paused, due to limited supplies of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but should be resuming soon.
Iowa's COVID positivity rate is 3.9 percent. State health officials also say nearly all long term care residents and staff have been vaccinating. As of today (Wednesday) there is just one COVID outbreak at a long term care facility in Iowa, down from a peak of 150 in November. COVID hospitalizations are also down 90-percent from the November peak.