Mar 29, 2021

Nebraska vaccinates more than 100,000 people again last week

Posted Mar 29, 2021 9:30 PM
Image courtesy of Pixabay
Image courtesy of Pixabay

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nearly 106,000 people received a COVID-19 vaccine shot in Nebraska last week, and that total was roughly in line with the previous week.

Health officials said 20.9% of the state's population over 16 has now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. One week earlier, nearly 107,000 doses of the shots were administered.

Most of those shots are being distributed by local health officials who are focused on vaccinating everyone aged 50 and older in the state, but several public health districts across the state have opened up vaccinations to all adults.

Officials have said that rural areas of the state have been able to expand vaccine eligibility faster than Omaha and Lincoln because they had fewer people in priority groups such as health care workers and educators, and those areas have reported larger percentages of people choosing not to get vaccinated.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Nebraska has risen over the past two weeks from 230.29 new cases per day on March 13 to 290.86 new cases per day on Saturday. The state said 208,553 cases and 2,175 deaths have now been reported in Nebraska.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus has continued to decline in the state, and 103 people were being treated in hospitals on Monday.