COVID-19 vaccine data for Kentucky has been counted twice in the federal vaccine database.

State officials have confirmed that this duplicate reporting only occurred with one pharmacy

Thursday, Gov. Beshear said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed state leaders that some of the COVID-19 vaccine data for Kentucky has been counted twice in the federal Tiberius vaccine database.

This occurred because data from one pharmacy chain (Kroger) was reported to the federal Tiberius database both through the Kentucky immunization registry (KYIR) and directly to the CDC through the Federal Pharmacy Vaccine Program.

“This was not intentional by anyone. They were submitting it in two ways and assumed there would be a de-duplication algorithm in the federal database. Kroger has been a great partner to us in vaccinations and testing and we do not blame anyone for this,” said Gov. Beshear.

The Governor noted that similar federal data instances, with other vaccine providers, has occurred in at least two other states. State officials have confirmed that this duplicate reporting only occurred with one pharmacy chain in Kentucky.

The CDC has shared a summary of the vaccine doses that will be de-duplicated from the federal Tiberius database this week. An estimated 431,100 total vaccine doses will be removed from the federal database for Kentucky. An estimated 252,500 of these are first doses, so this will lower the total number of unique Kentuckians vaccinated from approximately 2.78 million to 2.53 million.

Therefore, the percentage of Kentuckians vaccinated with at least one dose is going to decrease to around 56% or 57% on the CDC and Kentucky Department for Public Health websites.

The percentage of Kentuckians vaccinated in each age group will be adjusted downward approximately 5% to 7.5% for each of the age groups.

The adjustment to the percent vaccinated will be large in some counties – as much as 20%. Some counties will not have any change. This variation is related to how many persons were vaccinated by Kroger pharmacies.

The Governor said he expects the duplicate record deletions to occur this Thursday night, Oct. 28, and the adjustments in the data will be seen within a few days. There will be no changes to data within KYIR.

During the week ending Oct. 24, the average COVID-19 test positivity rate decreased to 5.90% and the total number of cases reported decreased to 9,749.

From March 1 to Oct. 27, 2021, 84.1% of COVID-19 cases, 84.2% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 85.0% of COVID-19 deaths have been among partially vaccinated or unvaccinated Kentuckians.

On Monday, the Governor discussed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel’s recommendation for regulators to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

If the FDA follows the panel’s recommendation, the CDC will then make the final decision.

As the Governor mentioned on Monday, the formulation of the vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 is different from those for ages 12 and older. Because of this, they will be stored differently using color coding. Purple will be the color of the vial cap for the vaccine used for those ages 12 and older; orange will be the color vial cap for the vaccine used for those ages 5 to 11.

The CDC recently approved the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) booster shots to increase protection against COVID-19.

Over time, recipients’ immune response from the vaccine slowly decreases. Receiving a booster will increase protection against severe COVID-19 cases and significantly decrease chances of hospitalization.

If it has been over six months since a Kentuckian received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and he or she has underlying health conditions, a high-exposure job or is 65 and older, a booster shot is needed.

Two months after receiving the J&J vaccine, Kentuckians should get a booster – everyone is eligible, regardless of underlying conditions, work environment or age.

“We recommend acting with urgency, as we believe there are more breakthrough cases with the J&J vaccine and we want to increase your protection against this virus,” said Gov. Beshear. “Remember, even if you got the J&J vaccine to start with, you may choose the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine boosters to increase your immunity.”

To learn more about booster eligibility, visit kycovid19.ky.gov.