Vaccine Update: OSDH Not Expecting Large Increase In Vaccine Supply In Coming Weeks

The Oklahoma State Department of Health said their vaccine shipments will remain fairly unchanged in the short term.

The department said that's because Operation Warp Speed does not have vaccine reserves.

The state health department said this guidance is conflicting with what they were told earlier this month, where they thought they'd get more vaccine doses based on the rate they gave them out.

Now, at least in the short term, the state will receive a similar number of doses over the next couple of weeks.

Deputy Commissioner of Health Keith Reed said this week the state will get about 81,000 doses.     

And that includes both the first and second shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Reed said earlier this month they anticipated getting about 200 thousand doses a week by this point.

Instead, he said they'll work as quickly as possible to get their allotment out to groups who qualify.

"Understand that we're not going to sit on inventory and hold it in a freezer for three to four weeks,” said Reed. “Because that vaccine has got to get in the arms of Oklahomans. That’s how we're going to interrupt transmission. We've got to keep it moving. We've got to demonstrate to the federal government that we are able to burn through our vaccine at a rate by which they need to consider us for higher allocations."

Reed said more than 31,000 Oklahomans have already received their second shot.

About 212,000 people have gotten the first one.