A hearing was held in the US Senate on Tuesday to discuss the best way to get the limited amount of vaccine we have to the places it's most needed. According to numbers from last Friday, the United States Department of Health is about 7 million administered doses short of where they thought they'd be by Mid-November. The supply is handed down from a national level to the State of South Dakota. From there, the state officials move it on to local areas, such as Sioux Falls. Both the local and state levels say they're doing the best they can with a slow moving supply chain.

The clinics seem to be held all the time and when they are they usually result in long lines. There were actually 9 clinics statewide on Tuesday and the state tell us it's doing a good job getting the supply they have out. Doneen Hollingsworth, the South Dakota Secretary Of Health said on Tuesday that "we can't control anything until it gets here, we can't control how many doses we get, but once it gets here, SD has done an awesome jobs of getting it redistributed and getting it to target populations."

More locally, Regan Smith, The Sioux Falls Risk and Emergency Manager says they've done what they can with what they've got as well. "The vaccine is coming slower than what we'd like to see, but I think the events have went pretty well."

The US Department of Health and Human Services says they hoped to have 50 million doses out by the middle of November, which is now. According to numbers from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, they're about 7 million short of that goal. They're also hoping to have 150 million out by the middle of December, just a month from now. Regan tells us that in December the number of clinics will likely pick up.

"The month of December we anticipate holding public health or vaccination events each week depending on the amount of vaccine we receive."

To get a look at where clinics are being held in your area go to the news links section of this web-channel.

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