NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee dismissed claims that the state hasn’t sent the county enough doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a letter to Mayor Jim Strickland, Lee said those claims are false.
“Unfortunately, it has been reported that Shelby County has not received an equitable share of vaccine doses relative to other counties across the state,” he wrote. “However- and I want to be clear and unmistakable about this – any such claims are incorrect.”
According to the governor, 10 percent of healthcare workers in the state live in Shelby County and the county received more than 35,000 doses of the vaccine starting in December. They also included some second doses, meaning Shelby County received 14.7 percent of the state supply for healthcare workers at that time.
In January, the state shifted its vaccine distribution plan to a population-based approach for each county. Shelby County recieved more than 68,000 doses in January for others in the 1a1 and 1a2 priority groups.
As of January 24, Shelby County has received more than 104,000 doses of the vaccine since December, Lee said. Just over one percent of the county’s population has been fully vaccinated.
