LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — During a press conference Tuesday, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced a 24-hour increase in vaccinations that was so high it seemed too good to be true.
"30,000 in the last 24 hours," Hutchinson said Tuesday. "Extraordinary 24 hours of success in the vaccinations."
Officially tallying 30,756 vaccinations over 24 hours, it's double the highest daily total in over a month.
If that number seems like a fluke, you aren't alone.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, I thought the same thing," Col. Robert Ator, who runs the state's vaccine rollout program, said.
Col. Ator said this many shots at once is a surprise –the next highest daily total is around 15,000 vaccinations towards the end of July – but it's good to see.
"It's very, very hopeful," Col. Ator said. "One of the things that is most important for you to understand is that I expect this trend line of the administrations to continue for at least the next thirty days."
There's a couple of reasons behind the spike, which include concerns from parents as students get ready to head back to the classroom and the delta variant of COVID-19.
"We're kind of done with a lot of the summer travel, kids going places, and so now they see we gotta get them started vaccinated before they get back to school," Anne Pace of Kavanaugh Pharmacy said.
Pace and her pharmacy shut down their vaccination due to low demand throughout the summer, but now that demand is spiking up.
"I would say the last few weeks have certainly been crazy in the pharmacy," she said.
It's a trend both Col. Ator and Pace said they hope continues for months, to make sure this isn't just a fluke.
"We've got it in most doctors' offices, most pharmacies, all the hospitals, at the local health units, you know, in every county," Col. Ator said. "So we have multiple places, you can't throw a rock without hitting someone that's gonna give them the vaccine."