Nebraska's Vaccine Rollout is Among the Slowest, as Rickett’s Rejects FEMA Staffed Vaccine Sites
By Emily Chen-Newton
Those who continue putting their life on the line through in-person work during this pandemic all have their own reasons for doing so. For one long-time North Omaha school bus driver, “He wants to help transport these kids because not many bus drivers wanna take North Omaha routes,” says his daughter, Simone who spoke to NOISE. Simone asked for her last name not to be used out of concern that her father could face backlash from his employer or that it could complicate his situation with unemployment.
In fact, the unemployment line is where Simone believes her father contracted COVID-19 last summer. Schools had closed and because of issues their family experienced with the online platform for unemployment benefits, her father had to go into the government building and wait his turn in line. He tested positive shortly after a few trips to the unemployment office.
In the summer of 2020, most government buildings were not enforcing or requiring face masks. Many such buildings were restricted from doing so by Governor Rickett’s order which threatened to cut off CARES ACT funding to counties if their government offices/buildings mandated masks. That was months ago when one of our only defenses against the virus was mask wearing, now of course we have vaccines available.
So, how is Nebraska doing when it comes to getting vaccine doses out to those like Simone’s father who so desperately needs them?
There are many ways to crunch the numbers. The CDC collects data from local healthcare facilities and public health authorities tracking the vaccine rollout. Looking at their data, Nebraska currently ranks 42nd in terms of utilizing the doses given to the state, according to a list from the online publication, Becker’s Hospital Reviews. The New York Times, NPR, and Becker’s Hospital Reviews all show Nebraska has used between 56%-57% of it’s allocated doses as of February 5th. Other states neighboring us near the bottom of the list are Idaho, Missouri and Kansas, all having used around 54% of their allocated doses.
The Biden Administration is utilizing FEMA and the National Guard to set up mobile sites and get people vaccinated as quickly as possible, but it is up to each state to decide exactly what kind of help they want from the federal government. According to Kristiana Sanford, a FEMA representative for the midwest region, Nebraska “said they do not need FEMA to set up a federal vaccination site, in reference to the President’s mention of 100 sites being set up across the nation. Nebraska recognizes that some states have greater needs and they are currently doing well with the number of sites they are operating.”
According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) website, “it's expected to be late spring before mass vaccination begins.” And their vaccine timeline currently shows vaccines for the general population starting in May.
http://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/COVID-19-Vaccine-Information.aspx#SectionLink3
Vaccinating our community against COVID-19 is a time-sensitive matter. Experts suggest we need about 70-90% immunity within a population at a given moment in time, before “life will begin to go back to normal.” So, if we move too slowly it’s possible by the time we have vaccinated close to 70% of Nebraskans, those vaccinated in the beginning of the year will have lost immunity by the time some Nebraksans are just getting their first shots.
Scientists don’t yet know if this will be an issue, but it is the main reason that health experts are pushing to vaccinate quickly, especially because it’s unclear how long immunity lasts after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. So, in order to give our community the best shot at having the majority of Nebraskans walking around with immunity at the same time, we need to move into the stage of mass vaccination as quickly as possible.
According to Kristiana Sanford of FEMA, “Much of the federal assistance Nebraska will receive will be in the form of reimbursements for eligible expenses relating to the implementation of their state-led distribution plan.” In other words, reimbursements for expenses, but no additional staff will be used from FEMA to expedite the process.
NOISE has repeatedly requested comment from the Governor's office as to why he has declined assistance from FEMA in the form of more staff to help expedite the vaccination process. NOISE has not received a response as of this publication. But Angela Ling, from Nebraska DHHS reiterated their stance in a news briefing on February 5th, “No additional bodies will be coming into the state”.
As of the publication of this article at least 1,958 people in Nebraska have died from the COVID-19. You can view the state’s dashboard by clicking here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ece0db09da4d4ca68252c3967aa1e9dd/page/page_0/
Covid Vaccine resources:
There is currently a vaccine sign up on https://vaccinate.ne.gov/ for the statewide rollout and the local pharmacy chain Kohlls also has a sign up available on their site. https://kohllsrx.com/covid-19/
Walmart pharmacies will be a Nebraska partner for the next round of vaccines, but Walmart does not have a unique sign up on their site, you can refer back to https://vaccinate.ne.gov/ to get your name on the list for vaccines once your age group becomes eligible.