REGIONAL- Gov. Tim Walz unveiled a more descriptive staged timeline for coronavirus vaccinations last week that would have vaccines available to anyone who wants one by summer, but a “game changing” announcement from the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday could accelerate that timeline.
The FDA issued an “emergency use authorization” for a third coronavirus vaccine, developed by Johnson & Johnson. Unlike its Pfizer and Moderna predecessors, the J&J vaccine requires only one dose, not two. An initial shipment to Minnesota of 45,200 doses is already being administered throughout the state, according to state Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann.
“More doses of a safe and effective vaccine in the state means that more people can get protected more quickly,” Ehresmann said during a Tuesday press call. “We view Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as a game changer that will help us quickly provide immunity to even more Minnesotans. This vaccine is safe and virtually 100 percent effective at preventing hospitalization and death among people 18 and older and requires only one dose. It can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, making it much more practical for use in the field.”
The news got even better on Tuesday when President Joe Biden announced that pharmaceutical giant Merck will help make the J&J vaccine.
“Two of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world who are usually competitors are working together on the vaccine,” Biden said. “This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II.”
Ehresmann said that the health department is awaiting word from the federal government about when Minnesota will receive its next J&J vaccine shipment, but expressed confidence that a regular distribution amount will be established within a week or two.
“We are optimistic about the longer term outlook for this vaccine’s availability,” Ehresmann said. “We will be using the vaccine for multiple populations in Minnesota. In fact, all the populations who are currently eligible for vaccine will have access to this vaccine in the next few days.”
While three vaccine options are now available to Minnesotans, Ehresmann said people should refrain from choosing one over another.
“We encourage people to take the vaccine that they’re offered,” she said. “All of these vaccines are effective and have made it through the FDA review and they have all been recommended. Our goal is to get as many people protected with COVID-19 vaccination across our community so we can get to that 80-percent coverage rate that we’ve been working towards.”
Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm addressed the timeline Walz released for progressively including more groups of people for vaccine eligibility.
“Generally, the direction of the timeline that the governor laid out is a good planning tool,” Malcolm said. “But we have every hope that we may be able to accelerate those timelines by some degree, depending on how quickly the vaccine supply ramps up. We still believe we’re on track to finish the current priority populations to get to that 70-percent coverage rate of the 65 and over population, certainly by the end of March.”
The next group of people eligible to receive the vaccine after meeting that target will be people with specific high-risk health conditions, including sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, those in active cancer treatment, organ transplant recipients who are immunocompromised, and oxygen-dependent individuals who have chronic lung and heart conditions. Also included in this eligibility expansion will be essential workers in food processing plants.
Malcolm emphasized that this specific group of conditions does not include all high-risk factors, such as obesity, that will be eligible in the following round. She also said that doctors have been given information about a number of rare health conditions of low incidence that they can consider giving special authorization to.
Trending up
The most recent zip code level cumulative case numbers were not provided with the MDH Weekly Update information last Thursday, but numbers reported on the St. Louis County COVID Dashboard show a reversal in the downward trend of key COVID indicators.
The seven-day average number of cases used to determine community spread jumped from 7.3 on Feb. 19 to 10.5 on Feb. 24, driven primarily by case increases in the southern part of the county. The seven-day average in northern St. Louis County also rose slightly, but then dropped to 3.5 on Feb. 24, the lowest of any region in the county.
However, the northern part of the county was the only region that showed a week-to-week increase in the bi-weekly cases rate used by schools to determine their learning models, going from 4.3 to 9.9.
Any increases are viewed with caution by county and state health officials, as overall vaccination levels remain low and more highly contagious coronavirus variants are known to be circulating in the state. The Centers for Disease Control issued a warning in February that the variant first identified in the United Kingdom was on track to be the predominant strain in the U.S by the end of March, raising the specter of yet another large spike in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Federal officials have been expressing concern for days that the decline in case numbers has leveled off across the country and remains steady at around 70,000 new cases and 2,000 deaths per day, which could represent either that the UK variant is taking hold or that COVID safety restriction have been lifted or ignored too soon, or both.
Appointments
available
Those 65 and over now have additional options for vaccination appointments at several area community health clinics.
As part of the Essentia Health system, Essentia Ely Clinic will provide vaccinations to any Minnesota resident age 65 and older who lives anywhere in the Essentia Health service area. A person does not have to be an Essentia patient to be vaccinated.
Appointments can be scheduled by calling 833-494-0836, or through a MyChart account at EssentiaHealth.org. There is also a MyChart app for smart devices.
Scenic Rivers Health Services is providing vaccinations for those 65 and over at their Tower and Cook clinics, as well as their other four clinics. A person does not have to be a Scenic Rivers patient to be vaccinated.
Friday appointments at the Tower clinic can be scheduled by calling 218-753-2405. Various days are available for appointments at the Cook clinic by calling 218-361-3297.

Estimated Minnesota timeline for vaccine eligibility

Who can get their vaccine now?
Minnesotans aged 65 or older
Health care workers at health care facilities in Minnesota
Long-term care residents and staff members at long-term care facilities in Minnesota
Pre-kindergarten through Adult Basic and Community Education school staff members, or contracted school staff members, at schools in Minnesota
Child care staff members at licensed and certified child care centers or programs in Minnesota

Who will get their vaccine soon?

April
People with specific high-risk health conditions:
Sickle cell disease, Down syndrome, those in active cancer treatment or immunocompromised from organ transplant, oxygen-dependent chronic lung and heart conditions (COPD and CHF)
Targeted essential workers at food processing plants
People with rare conditions or disabilities that put them at higher risk (on physician authorization)

April-May
People 45-64 with one or more high-risk medical conditions
People 16-44 with two or more high-risk medical conditions
People 50+ in multi-generational housing Essential frontline workers
Agricultural, airport staff, additional child care workers not previously eligible, correctional settings, first responders, food production, food retail, food service, judicial system workers, manufacturing, public health workers, public transit, US Postal Service workers

May-June
16+ with any underlying medical condition
Age 50-64 (regardless of health condition)
All other essential workforces
Transportation and logistics, finance, housing/shelter construction, IT/communications, energy, media, legal, public safety, water, and wastewater

Summer
General public
By this summer, every Minnesotan who wants a shot will be able to get one