Photo courtesy of Governor Edwards' twitter feed
Louisiana reportedly has one million COVID vaccine doses sitting in coolers as demand for the shot has declined rapidly.
The number of shots administered peaked the week of March 18th at 168,000 and fell to 45,000 last week. Governor John Bel Edwards said the slowing trend is troubling given the rise of coronavirus variants. According to the Advocate roughly a third of the state has gotten at least one shot, third-worst in the nation.
Edwards said the state is doing its best to persuade those on the fence. Today they sent out over 100,000 letters to residents encouraging them to utilize a mass vaccination site in Baton Rouge.
“We are trying very hard to meet people where they are, and this is especially important once you get to a point where the demand no longer exceeds supply, and that is where we are,” said Edwards who added, “I am also mindful that for people who, for whatever reason, are hesitant that my voice is not necessarily going to be the one to convince them, so I encourage them to reach out to their doctor.”
That FEMA mass vaccination site in Baton Rouge is capable of administering 3,000 shots a day. Edwards said right now it’s only doing about 100 a day.
The ongoing public health emergency declaration is set to expire Wednesday. Edwards says the last restrictions won’t get lifted until enough people get vaccinated.
“The sooner we get there the better and as we transition to that point there will be a greater and greater return to normalcy,” said Edwards.
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