Fewer people are running out to get the vaccine in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. – Fewer people seem to be running out to get the vaccine in Louisiana, therefore, leftovers from the state’s allotment will go to other states with higher demand.

Right now, Louisiana has more COVID-19 shots than people signing up to get the vaccine. If interest in getting the shot continues to go down in the state, then that means fewer vaccines coming each week.

“Now, things are getting a little bit more relaxed and not as many phone calls are coming in but we’re still daily receiving phone calls for people interested in receiving the vaccines,” said Beth Denson, the assistant director of the Ascension Parish Health Unit.

In Ascension Parish, the health clinic is still getting around 168 patients out of the four days of the week where it gives out the Moderna vaccine. That number is much lower than three months ago when it first became a COVID vaccine distribution site.

“I think that we have more supply than demand at this time that the more people we vaccinate in the United States and anywhere is definitely a benefit to everyone,” added Denson.

According to LDH, the state received more than three million vaccines. Only 73% have been used and 26.5% have not been used.

The Lamar-Dixon Expo Center’s drive-thru site is on its second week of giving out the Pfizer vaccine.

“So, the fact that we did 150 in the first week, I thought was just kind of showed the convenience of the site,” said Kyle Rogers, the general manager at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center. “That there are still people out there that want to get vaccinated that just want to have the convenience, maybe not having to set up a schedule, kind of being able to show up at that their own pace.”

LDH said it is in the next phase of vaccine distribution. It will have to target a specific group of people that are still hesitant in order to create more of that herd immunity.

“Now, there is a large segment in the middle, some people term them the movable middle, because a lot of people in the middle right now who are not admittingly opposed to getting the vaccine, they just haven’t done it,” said Dr. Joseph Kanter with LDH.

Dr. Kanter added the state can get as many vaccines as it needs in order to keep administering them to folks but if people want more vaccines, it just depends on if people will come out.