Gov. Ricketts, DHHS Leaders Provide Update on Coronavirus Vaccination and Reporting

Press Release

This morning, Governor Pete Ricketts provided an update on the State's progress distributing and administering the coronavirus vaccine. Over 120,000 vaccinations have been administered so far in Nebraska.

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Incident Commander Angie Ling discussed the State's work to vaccinate Nebraskans in Phases 1A and 1B of its COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. The State's COVID-19 Vaccination Plan is available by clicking here. Ashley Newmyer, Chief Data Strategist for DHHS, overviewed upcoming enhancements to the State's dashboard that tracks coronavirus cases.

Gov. Ricketts: Coronavirus Vaccinations

Vaccinations have been moving quickly statewide in 2021. We're in Phase 1A in four of our local public health districts. We've moved to Phase 1B in 15 of the districts.
As we enter Phase 1B, we expect 90% of vaccinations to be administered to people who are 65+ years old.
Mortality data shows that the 65+ age category is the most vulnerable to coronavirus. We're prioritizing this group to protect older Nebraskans.
We expect Phase 1B to take several weeks.

Angie Ling: Coronavirus Vaccination

We had a small increase in allocations this week. We received 11,700 primary doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 11,800 primary doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Our federal pharmacy program continues with around 428 facilities having received their first doses, and second doses starting at clinics next week. After next week, all doses to the federal pharmacy program will be completed.
We anticipate all long-term care facilities receiving their first dose of vaccine by the end of the month.
The priority of Phase 1B will be Nebraskans aged 65+ and those with high-risk medical conditions as identified by the CDC.
The State's Vaccine Registration and Administration System will go live next week.
All of the local health departments currently have a registration system. If you've already registered through a local health department, you do NOT need to register again through the State's system.
If you're unable to register online, please call the DHHS coronavirus information line at 402-552-6645 or toll free at 833-998-2275. Lines are open every day of the week from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Ashley Newmyer: Coronavirus Reporting

Earlier this week, we performed maintenance on our coronavirus case reporting dashboard to clean up and validate our data.
Next Friday, on January 29th, new changes to the dashboard will take effect.
We will change the way we report COVID-19 daily positive cases and tests. Instead of using the lab report date as we've done in the past, we'll begin to use the specimen collection date (the date when the test swab was collected).
Posting positive cases and tests using the specimen collection date will offer a more accurate view of the number of positive cases at the time tests were collected.
We'll also refresh the historical graphs of our COVID-19 daily positive cases and tests to reflect the new method of reporting.
The timing of the daily dashboard update will also change. As of January 29th, it will post in the morning around 9:00 am. The final evening update will occur next Wednesday night (Jan. 27).

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