Ohio’s vaccine rollout continues to move at a slow pace as more groups get added to the eligibility list this week. As of Saturday afternoon, Ohio has distributed over 414,000 doses of the COVID vaccine, or 3.5% of the population. Starting Tuesday, people 80 years old and older, which is roughly 420 thousand Ohioans, will be eligible to get their first dose. While the demand is currently a lot higher than the supply of vaccines that the state has, Governor Mike DeWine is upset that Ohio is not getting enough shots in arms with the doses we do get each week.
“As of last Sunday, we were at 72%. That is not high enough,” exclaimed Gov. DeWine. “We, in my opinion, should be 85% and that is my goal to get us up to 85%.”
The good news is that more drug companies are close to getting their COVID-19 vaccines reviewed for approval, including one within the next month.
“We have good reason to believe, that process is going to lead to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being the next one to come up for review and potential approval by ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) and hopefully a combination with that process approval by the FDA,” says Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff of the Ohio Department of Health.
According to media reports, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only requires one dose, and it doesn’t have to be kept at below zero temperatures. The U.S. Government has already reached a deal to purchase 100 million doses when it gets approved.
