On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Ohio’s vaccine rollout was moving relatively slow. While about 19.3% of vaccines had been used nationwide as of Dec. 21, according to Bloomberg, Ohio had used only 14.3% of its vaccine allotment.
DeWine declined to assign blame for the slow rollout, saying that the state was starting up an altogether new, large-scale vaccine program. The state’s dashboard also is likely undercounting the true number of vaccines administered because some hospitals had trouble uploading data, he said.
Health care workers and those living and working in nursing homes and assisted living facilities already are receiving the vaccine, but DeWine said he had grown “impatient” with the pace of those who have been vaccinated.
On Wednesday, DeWine said he had a “candid discussion” with hospitals to talk about speeding up the rollout. He wants them to administer vaccines within 24 hours of receiving them and then update their records with the state within the day after.
“I’m just not satisfied with where we are in Ohio. We’re not moving fast enough. But we’re going to get there. We’re going to speed this thing up,” he said.
The governor also said he was troubled by the relatively low numbers of nursing home workers who have elected to take the vaccine as it’s been offered to them and warned that, if they don’t get it now, they could be forced to wait for it in the future.
About 60% of nursing home staff have so far elected not to take the vaccine, DeWine said.
“We aren’t going to make them but we wish they had a higher compliance,” he said. “Our message today is the train may not be coming back for a while.”
Nursing homes will get three visits for the vaccine, DeWine said. After the initial stop, nursing homes will be hit again to administer second doses for anyone who received the vaccine the first time and to give an initial dose to anyone else who wants it.
