The Oklahoma State Department of Heath (OSDH) held a Zoom meeting on Feb. 3 to provide an update on vaccine supplies from OSDH Interim Health Commissioner Lance Frye, M.D., and Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed. Additionally, both men took questions from the press.

A 5% increase in vaccine supply is expected with updates coming in weekly.

As of this writing, 96,215 Oklahomans have completed their vaccine treatments and received both doses. 372,053 have received their first dose and about 12% of Oklahoma’s population over the age of 16 have been vaccinated.

Oklahoma’s 65 and older population remains the focus for vaccination as the group is the most vulnerable and have the most difficulty with technology.

Deputy Commissioner Reed also defined what an educator in Phase Two of vaccination entails. Educators are teachers and staff supporting PreK through grade 12 school system. This includes cafeteria workers and bus drivers as well.

At the time of this writing, Oklahoma currently ranks eighth in the country for vaccine distribution with roughly 72.26% of the distributed vaccines being administered.

Oklahoma is getting ready to receive 11,500 doses of the vaccine that will be shipped to pharmacies as a part of the Biden Administration’s Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.

“We anticipate there’s probably going to be around 75 total pharmacies that will receive some level of vaccine inventory,” said Reed.

These pharmacies will have limited doses of the vaccine, but enough to work through the week. Reed also cautioned the public not to inundate these pharmacies as most locations may have only around 100 doses or so.

Dr. Frye revealed that virus testing at Oklahoma State University may have found the first case of a COVID-19 variant in Oklahoma, but the testing was not performed under standard research protocols. Dr. Frye did not specify which variant was discovered, but said that further studies will be done to see if the variants are really here and to what extent.

“We anticipate there’s probably going to be around 75 total pharmacies that will receive some level of vaccine inventory”

OSDH Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed