Governor Kim Reynolds

Gov. Kim Reynolds visited Tama County’s vaccine clinic Friday morning and heard about the needs for more vaccinations in Tama County and more housing in Toledo.

City and state officials met Reynolds at the former Iowa Juvenile Home where Tama County Public Health has been holding vaccination clinics since February.

Tama County Public Health Director, Shannon Zoffka gave Reynolds a tour of the operation. Zoffka also had the opportunity to share with Reynolds the need that still exists in Tama County for more doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Tama County Public Health is currently administering around 100 vaccinations a day but has the capacity and demand to double that amount according to Zoffka.

“We could definitely use a larger allotment of vaccines per week,” Zoffka said. “Iowa Premium could definitely use more Johnson and Johnson vaccines as well.”

Out of roughly 900 employees at Iowa Premium, only 250 to 300 have been vaccinated according to Zoffka.

She is hopeful to see an increase in dosages and expects the state as a whole to be receiving increased volumes of vaccines in the near future. So far, Tama County has not seen an increase in vaccine shipments following the state’s inclusion of adults under the age of 65 with underlying health conditions in the priority population rollout guidelines.

“We are limited by what (the federal government) can get to us,” Reynolds said. “It’s nice to get out in the state and see the process that they have in place. This is literally what I have been doing. To understand the vaccines that they are getting and the capacity to do even more. Every county gets a certain amount based on population. As we see the allocations come in, we want to get them out to clinics that can get them in the arms of Iowans. That’s the most important thing, to not be sitting on anything and get the vaccines administered. (Tama County) has got the capacity to do it and hopefully we can get that happening and get them a few more doses.”