Vaccine update
The Block Island Times reached out to the Medical Center to ask when the island may be receiving Covid-19 vaccines. Medical Center Director Dr. Tom Warcup issued the following statement to The Times on Thursday, Dec. 17:
“There was an article published today in The Washington Post that illustrates the allotment of Covid vaccine to Rhode Island and may help everyone have proper perspective over the next several weeks. Rhode Island has an expected initial shipment of 10,000 doses and only 39,000 by Dec. 31 and that is with the Moderna vaccine being added to the options. That is only enough for 3.7 percent of the state population to be vaccinated by Jan. 1. Rhode Island has 70,000 health care workers and 11,000 nursing home residents. So, in the first round there is not enough to vaccinate the Center for Diseases Control-designated first cohort even with their first of a two-shot series.”