1.4 million vaccine doses administered in Minnesota; providers expand eligibility
Minnesota medical providers expanded eligibility criteria Thursday for vaccination against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now caused 6,521 deaths in the state along with 487,374 diagnosed infections with the novel coronavirus that causes the infectious disease.
The totals include 14 more deaths and 949 infections reported by the Minnesota Department of Health on Thursday.
M Health Fairview announced that it was now offering shots to patients 65 and older, an expansion from its prior age cutoff of 70 or older. St. Cloud-based CentraCare also announced that patients 65 and older were eligible and unveiled a new online registration option.
"Over the last week, we are pleased to see our vaccine supply increase and we are now able to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to anyone in those first priority groups, including those aged 65+, who want to receive it." said Dr. George Morris, CentraCare's COVID-19 incident response commander, in a statement.
At least 948,127 people in Minnesota have received a first shot of Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, and 500,188 of them have completed the two-dose series.
Minnesota providers on Thursday also reported receiving their first shipments of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19.
Gov. Tim Walz last week unveiled a vaccine timetable for Minnesota that gradually expanded eligibility to non-elderly adults with chronic health problems and front-line essential workers — before getting to the rest of the general public by summer. That timetable could be accelerated now — with the original scheduling not factoring in the availability of a third vaccine.
The state for now is prioritizing limited quantities of vaccine mostly for health care workers, long-term care residents, educators and people 65 and older. Some medical providers started by limiting vaccination to older age groups though — Mayo Clinic started with its patients 80 and older but will expand to 65 and older next week.
Risk of severe COVID-19 increases with age. COVID-19 deaths have been reported in 1.5% of Minnesota's 48,396 known cases involving people in their 60s. The death rate increases to 27% of the 5,891 cases involving people in their 90s.
All 14 deaths reported Thursday involved people 60 or older. Seven involved residents of long-term care facilities — with some residents having yet to be vaccinated despite clinics taking place in all nursing homes in Minnesota.
Signs of pandemic activity continued to improve in Minnesota, where the positivity rate of COVID-19 diagnostic testing dropped to 3.5% — down from a peak of 15.6% on Nov. 10.
However, updated county figures showed continuing concerns of hot spots. Pennington County's rate of 131 infections per 10,000 people in the 14-day period ending Feb. 20 more than doubled the rate of any other county in the state. Health officials said that increase in Thief River Falls and surrounding areas was due to multiple viral exposures at workplaces, restaurants, sporting activities and other events rather than any one outbreak.
State officials also remain concerned about the emergence of more infectious variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Genomic sequencing has now identified 112 cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota involving a more infectious B.1.1.7 variant first found in the United Kingdom.
Jeremy Olson • 612-673-7744
