FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — A once anticipated acceleration in the Covid-19 vaccination process in Arkansas came to a screeching halt when the promised national vaccine stockpile suddenly no longer existed.
When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was asked Friday (Jan. 15) whether there is in fact a reserve of second doses left to release, he said, "no. There's not a reserve stockpile."
Pharmacists across the state of Arkansas expected to receive those extra doses soon. The release of those added doses would have doubled the states’ weekly allotment of vaccines.
Arkansas Pharmacists Association CEO John Vinson said the broken promise would have taken the states’ weekly allotment from 37,000 doses to 75,000 doses.
“There was a belief that was communicated to the American public that they were holding 55% of the vaccine allotment in storage and they were going to release that vaccine allotment they were holding in reserve to the states,” Vinson said. “We believed that that was going to double the amount of vaccines going into our state and all states.”
Vinson said the added doses from the stockpile could have cut back on how long it will take to complete Phase 1-B. Now, Vinson expects it to be close to March before this group is vaccinated.