By GRANT SCHULTE
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska officials released further details on how the state's coronavirus vaccination plan will work, including that meatpacking plant workers, prison staffers and teachers will be among the first to receive doses after health care workers and people who work in long-term care facilities get them.
Nebraska is expected to receive its first shipment of 15,600 doses next week from the drug maker Pfizer, assuming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine as expected on Thursday.
Once the needs of hospitals and the care facilities are met, the state will expand who is eligible, said Angie Ling, incident commander for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Under the distribution plan that was updated Monday, first responders and people who work in education, the food and agricultural industries, correctional facilities and utilities and transportation will be next in line to be eligible to get vaccinated. After that, the vaccine will go to people who are 65 years and older or who are otherwise considered vulnerable, as well as to those living in shared living facilities.
Ling said the timeline for when Nebraska will reach each distribution phase is unclear because other scheduled vaccine shipments have already been delayed.
Nebraska is expected to receive 100,000 doses by the end of December, but even the earliest recipients will likely have to wait until at least January to get full immunity. The vaccine is administered in two doses spread out over three or four weeks, and Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska won't get those second doses until January.
Additionally, people who work in one of the priority industries may not necessarily qualify. In hospitals, for instance, vaccines will go to front-line medical staff.
"We're talking about people who are dealing with potential coronavirus patients, such as an ER nurse, and not necessarily someone who works in the office," Ricketts said.
Ricketts said state officials are still finalizing how they plan to notify people that they're eligible.
Ling said the first Pfizer shipment will go to eight undisclosed Nebraska hospitals, which in turn will provide doses to nine other hospitals.
She said the hospitals are spread throughout the state and that the first eight were chosen partly because they have the ability to properly store Pfizer's vaccine in an extremely cold space. A second vaccine produced by Moderna doesn't require those conditions and will go to other hospitals that need it, she said.
The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Nebraska held fairly steady Tuesday after a sharp increase that raised concerns about whether hospitals were at risk of getting overwhelmed.
The state reported 787 active hospitalizations in its most recent online posting, down from the record high of 987 set last month. The number is still elevated, however, raising concerns among public health officials.
Nebraska has confirmed 142,603 cases and 1,277 deaths in the state since the pandemic began. There were 1,476 new cases reported Tuesday.
Nearly two-thirds of those who have died from the virus were at least 75 years old.
State officials also reported that 28% of Nebraska's hospital beds, 26% of its intensive care unit beds and 71% of its ventilators were available for use by coronavirus patients.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services reported Tuesday that seven additional staff members tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 374 since the pandemic began. Of those, 286 have recovered.