Colorado receiving a fraction of expected COVID-19 vaccine doses next week

DENVER (KRDO) -- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis says he's shocked that state officials "were lied to" after announcing that the state will receive far fewer doses of the COVID-19 vaccine next week than originally expected.

According to a report by The Washington Post, an announcement by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about releasing coronavirus vaccine doses held in reserve for second shots was false, and no reserve actually existed.

Gov. Polis says he and other governors were led to believe that states would be getting more doses out of the reserve. Polis wrote on Twitter that the state expected 210,000 doses next week, but he found out the state will only get 79,000 doses.

I’m shocked we were lied to and there is no national reserve.Federal announcements that 2nd dose being held in reserve was going to be released led us to expect 210,000 doses next week,other Govs made similar https://t.co/ETVIqM0clH we find out we’ll only get 79,000 next week.

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) January 15, 2021

This revelation comes as Colorado is still vaccinating all health care workers across the state and working on vaccinating people over the age of 70.

Polis had said earlier this week that he had continued to put pressure on the federal government, saying it isn't shipping vaccines to Colorado fast enough, holding the state back from distribution.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 46,897 people in the state have received both necessary doses for the vaccine, but 223,827 people had been immunized with one dose as of late Wednesday's data.