HELENA — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte held a press conference in Helena on Tuesday afternoon to provide an update on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations across the state.
The governor reported that 82% of the 134,000 vaccines allocated to Montana have been used to date. Gov. Gianforte also announced he received federal approval to redirect 19,500 unused COVID-19 vaccine doses to Montanans.
“Every dose Montana receives is critical, which is why I promised you in my first week in office that we wouldn’t let vaccines sit on shelves. Today, we’re following through on that promise,” Gov. Gianforte said. “By working together, we can protect more Montanans and save more lives.”
The 19,500 doses identified by the state were originally provided to CVS and Walgreens under contract by the federal government to vaccinate residents and staff in long-term care facilities and assisted living facilities.
With the redirection of the unused doses, nearly 10,000 more Montanans in Phase 1B will be fully vaccinated, according to Gov. Gianforte.
Gov. Gianforte said at a news conference in Helena that doses will be released to hospitals across Montana in the coming days. DPHHS will coordinate with local partners and hospitals to help set up community clinics to serve as many Montanans as possible.
The Montana Response: COVID-19 website reports 110,351 doses of COVID-19 have been administered as of Tuesday and a total of 27,506 have been fully immunized.
The governor also said he has requested that President Biden and the federal government make additional vaccine available to Montana.
Watch the full press conference above.