(KNSI) – Minnesota health leaders expect the state to hit two pandemic milestones on Thursday: 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered and half a million total confirmed positive cases of the novel coronavirus.
As of Wednesday, the state has recorded 499,962 positive COVID-19 cases during the pandemic. Per the lastest vaccination data, 1,987,705 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have gone into the arms of 1,284,612 Minnesotans.
The milestone double-whammy represents the “in-between” spot the state is in, says state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann.
“Just like Minnesota’s March weather — spring on the weekend and snowstorm on Monday — these two milestones show that we are making exciting progress, even as we must be prepared for some setbacks,” Ehresmann said.
That progress is palpable. Earlier this month, Minnesota expanded its vaccine eligibility to include many with underlying health conditions and certain essential workers after hitting the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of Minnesota’s seniors three weeks faster than anticipated. On March 2nd, the Minnesota Department of Health estimated that the general public would be able to get vaccinated during the summer. Now, states face a May 1st deadline set by President Joe Biden to open eligibility to all adults.
“We feel very confident that we can meet that directive that the President has laid down,” MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm said Wednesday. “We believe that we’ll continue to pick up progress as we go here, and we’re hearing good feedback from our vaccination partners that having access to a broader pool of eligible people has been helpful.”
With some states expecting to expand vaccine eligibility to the general public before that May 1st deadline, Malcolm said it would be pleasing if Minnesota could beat that deadline, too.
“I’m not sure that we would be in a position to open it completely by April 5,” Malcolm said in response to news that Iowa will open vaccine eligibility to all adults on that date. “But, that’s about the timeline on which we do expect to be able to open further.”
Malcolm added that state health leaders are figuring out what the next logical steps are for when it expands vaccine eligibility. If the state continues to follow its timeline, the next groups to become eligible could be all Minnesotans age 50 and older and anyone 16 and older with a high-risk underlying condition. For now, Malcolm said the state is progressing through its current eligibility groups at a good pace.
“I think we had said at the outset that we thought that the tier 2 phases would be able to be completed within a couple of weeks … and we’re, I think, very much on track to meet that,” Malcolm said.
Another helpful tool: the potential for higher allocations of the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine. Ehresmann said that Minnesota is receiving 12,600 J&J doses this week on top of its Pfizer and Moderna allotments, and the portions should continue to grow.
“[The federal government’s] projections would suggest, perhaps, 100,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson a week in April, so we’ll have to see if that happens,” Ehresmann said.
The potential setback, though, that Ehresmann alluded to in her springtime allegory is the slight uptick in new COVID-19 cases, especially among young adults, and the uncertainty of how more transmissible variants of the virus will impact the state’s case trajectory.
“We’re definitely in a period of watching closely here and, frankly, in other states and even internationally to see what can be discerned about the impact of the variants,” Malcolm said.
The optimistic vaccination forecast comes the same day Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Malcolm entered quarantine after one of Walz’s staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Walz was expected to visit St. Cloud Wednesday morning for the opening of its large-scale, permanent vaccination clinic. The three officials will be in quarantine until March 25, which postpones Walz’s State of the State address originally scheduled for March 21.
“I’m certainly hoping for the best for the staff member and for none of us to develop symptoms, but I’m going to do my part to limit the potential risk to anyone else should I be infectious,” Malcolm said. “This is jsut another particularly pointed reminder for us personally that while we are so close to the end of this pandemic — we can see it from here — we absolutely have to continue to take COVID-19 seriously.”
Malcolm has received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine but has not completed the 14-day waiting period for the vaccine to be fully effective. Walz has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, and Flanagan has only received one dose of the two-shot Moderna vaccine.
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