CINCINNATI — As more people are able to get the vaccine, local health officials said the amount of vaccine the area is receiving isn't enough to keep up with demand.
Mercy West recently received a shipment of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, but what was inside of the shipment was one box of about 700 vaccine doses packed with dry ice.
"It's more of a trickle at this point," Christa Hyson, assistant director of the Health Collaborative, said. "I would say most areas are accepting at least weekly shipments."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ohio has received 1,812,025 vaccines, but only 1,085,391 doses have been administered as of Thursday. Kentucky has received 719,200 doses and used 435,400, and Indiana has received 1,106,550 doses and used 637,745.
"We absolutely need more vaccine," pharmacy director Teresa Ash said. "The faster we can get doses in arms, shots in arms, the quicker this pandemic will end."
When the vaccines are delivered, doses are wheeled into a cold storage freezer before they are removed from their coolers. Once inside the freezer though, Ash said her and others have to dig the vaccines out of the dry ice.
"We call it liquid gold," Ash said. "This is the tip of the sword to end this pandemic."
