FRANKFORT, Ky. — Governor Andy Beshear confirmed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data for COVID-19 vaccinations in Kentucky were counted twice. This means 431,100 people who were misreported as fully vaccinated will be removed from the federal database.
Beshear said the error was due to Kroger pharmacies doubling the number of COVID-19 vaccinations reported to the CDC. Kroger was reporting to the federal database through the Kentucky immunization registry. Kentucky's health department only reports the number of individuals, who have received the first dose of a vaccine.
The governor said around 250,500 miscounted individuals with first doses will be removed from the commonwealth's database. In total, Beshear said it will lower the total of number of Kentuckians vaccinated from 2.78 million to 2.53 million.
"What it does to our numbers, it hurts a little bit," the governor said. "If we're going to get everyone vaccinated and protect everybody, we really have to have the most accurate count of who is and who isn't."
Each age group of those vaccinated is expected to be adjusted as well. Beshear said all age group's percentages will decrease five to seven percent.
Beshear said he was made of aware of the possibility of duplicated CDC reports around two weeks ago and the official estimate was given to him Wednesday. He also said he believes the same error with Kroger may have had happened in at least three other states.
The governor said his team pieced together the discrepancy by looking at new census data and comparing the federal vaccination numbers.
"We raised it with the CDC and the federal government," Beshear said. "Our goal was to be accurate and transparent, even with the news we had to report today. We thought that was important."
The adjustments in the CDC database are expected to change as early as tomorrow.
Watch Gov. Beshear's "Team Kentucky" update in full below
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