IOWA - Iowa has asked the federal government to withhold more than a quarter of its COVID-19 vaccine allotment this week because of falling demand.
The Des Moines Register reports the Department of Public Health confirmed the decision. Last week, Governor Kim Reynolds said almost half the state's counties had declined all or part of their share of doses for this week.
The state allotment does not include thousands of vaccines sent to pharmacies through a federal program.
Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control show well over half (55.2 percent) of Iowan adults have received one dose of a vaccine while 41 percent are fully vaccinated.
Vaccine shots given to people peaked in early April and have fallen off in the weeks since then.
The state asked vaccine providers to immediately resume giving out Johnson & Johnson doses Friday after the federal government lifted a pause on their delivery.
The pause was recommended after reports of six cases of a rare blood clot were reported in women under age 50 who had received the J & J vaccine.
The following Iowa counties denied some or all of their allocation for this week: Adams, Allamakee, Appanoose, Audubon, Buena Vista, Butler, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clay, Clayton, Crawford, Des Moines, Dickinson, Emmet, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Fremont, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Humboldt, Ida, Jackson, Jefferson, Keokuk, Kossuth, Louisa, Lyon, O'Brien, Palo Alto, Sac, Sioux, Taylor, Union, Van Buren, Wapello, Webster, Winnebago and Woodbury.