Tennessee expects to receive a 15% bump to its allotment of COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government over the next three weeks, or 13,000 additional first-round doses a week, the state's top health official said Tuesday.
Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said during a news briefing that the increase will bring the state's weekly supply of initial vaccine doses to about 93,000 per week, up from the roughly 80,000 doses per week that the state received throughout January.
Second doses of vaccine, which should be given about a month after receiving the first dose in order for the vaccine to be most effective, are sent separately and not included in the supply projections.
While the increase is still "not anywhere close to meeting the demand," Piercey said the state is now recommending counties open vaccination eligibility for ages 70 and up. The federal government, under the previous and current presidential administrations, has asked states to lower the eligible age group to age 65 and older.
"The 70 to 74 age group is still substantially higher risk than that of 65 to 69. That is why we went down in a five-year increment instead of a full 10-year increment," she said. "The other practical matter is that supply is still very, very limited."
Officials from the Hamilton County Health Department, which operates independently of the state department of health, said they will continue to only vaccinate those 75 and older in addition to eligible health care workers.
Counties move at their own pace through vaccine phases. As of Tuesday, Hamilton, Davidson and Shelby were the only counties in the state that had not lowered vaccine eligibility from 75 to 70 years old, according to the Tennessee Department of Health webpage that tracks each county's phase.
There are approximately 300,000 Tennesseans in the 70- to 74-year-old category, according to Piercey. Though supplies may increase again later in the month, Piercey estimated that it would take all of February to vaccinate those in the 70-plus population based on anticipated allocations.
"But we'll certainly open that up sooner if we get additional vaccine," she said.
The next vaccination phase in Tennessee includes teachers, child care staff and first responder operations personnel.
Rae Bond, chair of the COVID-19 task force, said the limited availability of doses continues to be the biggest issue in Hamilton County. During a separate news conference Tuesday afternoon, Bond praised the work of the county health department in setting up the online and by-phone appointment system.
Bond asked county residents to help ensure the most vulnerable have access to the doses and appointments that are available.
"The vaccine phases are open to those who are most at risk," Bond said. "We want to ask those who are not in those groups to avoid signing up and taking a spot in the appointment line. It slows down the process for those who currently qualify for the vaccination."
Hamilton County continued a downward trend in new cases with the health department reporting 151 new infections Tuesday. The county is averaging 127 new cases a day in the past week. For the fifth straight day, confirmed hospitalizations were below 100, the first time the county reported that kind of a streak since the first week of November.
"We're continuing to see encouraging trends with fewer active cases, a declining positivity rate and lower levels of hospitalizations," Bond said. "We're also seeing a positive response to COVID vaccination in our community, which is very encouraging."
While parts of the new data look promising, the county has reported 19 virus-related deaths since Friday, including eight on Tuesday. The region experienced the deadliest month to date in January with 373 deaths reported in a 21-county area of Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite. Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.