County vaccination numbers creep up

Quay County’s full vaccination numbers against coronavirus continued to creep up last week, but about 20 percentage points behind the statewide pace.

According to state Department of Health data, Quay County had 34.3% of its eligible residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 through Friday, which was 1.7% higher from the previous week.

However, that was well behind the statewide proportion of 53.4% through Friday. State officials have said they would lift the red-to-turquoise COVID-19 risk framework once the state hits 60% full vaccination. They anticipated that would happen by late June.

About 38.6% of Quay County residents have received one shot, compared to the statewide average of 63.8%.

C. Renee Hayoz, administrator of the Quay County Family Health Center in Tucumcari, said her clinic administered 45 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week. It has about 50 doses left before it expires in mid-June.

The Quay County Public Health Office administered 35 doses of vaccine during its weekly event at the Tucumcari Convention Center. That office will continue to offer shots at the convention center each Wednesday through the foreseeable future.

Tom Robinson, a pharmacist at Bestcare Pharmacy in Tucumcari, said his drugstore administered only 15 shots of the Moderna vaccine last week. He acknowledged the local pace of vaccinations was down.

Robinson also expressed his dismay over many residents not being cautious about the disease.

“I see families of five, all with COVID and not wearing masks,” he said.

Vaccination information wasn’t available from Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari.

All New Mexicans age 16 and older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and may schedule their vaccine appointment at vaccineNM.org or by calling 1-855-600-3453.

Parents of New Mexicans age 12 to 15 may register their child for the approved Pfizer vaccine at vaccineNM.org.

During a health briefing Wednesday, Human Services Secretary David Scrase said the B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 had become the dominant strain in New Mexico, with it accounting of more than 64% of all cases. The strain, which originated in the United Kingdom, is 1 1/2 to two times more transmittable.

Scrase is 98% of all new COVID-19 cases reported in recent weeks in New Mexico are with people who have not been vaccinated.

He attributed “a lack of belief in the science” by people who are hesitant in being vaccinated.

Scrase said he and other state health officials had considered some sort of vaccination identification that could be scanned into driver’s licenses but decided against it because “we’re in the home stretch” of having 60% of the state fully vaccinated, and such an effort would take weeks to implement.

He said he also was reluctant to have businesses be “gatekeepers of the public health order” in determining who is or isn’t vaccinated.

He said only about 500 of nearly 1 million people in the state vaccinated have contracted the disease after being vaccinated. Scrase said many of those cases are asymptomatic, and about 20% have an immune disorder. Only five have been hospitalized, and only two had illnesses directly attributed to COVID-19. One death was reported.

Scrase said with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines having an efficacy rate of about 95%, he expected more than 500 New Mexico residents becoming ill with COVID-19 after vaccinations.

“I think we’re seeing a higher level of effectiveness than we expected,” he said.

Ryan Stewart, the state’s Public Education Department chief, reported a downward trend of COVID-19 cases in schools. During surveillance testing, he said only 0.16% of teachers had tested positive for the disease since late February.

“Schools are not driving community spread,” he said.

He also said 57,000 of 68,000 educators in New Mexico are full vaccinated against the disease. He said of the 55,000 students age 12 to 18 who had registered for the shots, half have been fully vaccinated.