COLUMBUS, Ohio — COVID-19 vaccine providers in Ohio could soon get access to 353,925 doses that have been "held back" for the state under federal protocols, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday afternoon, just after he was briefed by Vice President Mike Pence with other governors.

DeWine celebrated the federal government's announcement that it will pivot to releasing vaccine doses that had previously been withheld to ensure recipients would receive a timely second shot.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said supplies initially held back to guarantee that second doses would be available will now be sent out to the states.

"Because we now have a consistent pace of production, we can now ship all of the doses that had been held in physical reserve, with second doses being supplied by doses coming off of manufacturing lines with quality control," Azar said Tuesday.

During his briefing Tuesday afternoon, DeWine announced Ohio is asking its hospitals to complete the first round of immunization shots for their health care workers by Jan. 17 to allow the state to stay on track to begin vaccinating its seniors next week.

“Our hospitals have been vaccinating their medical personnel. We are telling the hospitals today that they need to finish that up. They need to finish it up by midnight on Sunday, because on Monday they need to move then to vaccinate those Ohioans who are 80 or older," the governor said.

Health departments in many Ohio counties are pre-registering residents for the next vaccination phases, which includes seniors, school staff, about 70,000 people with health conditions.

Next week, when the state begins offering immunizations to individuals who are 80 and older, DeWine said 800 providers will receive allocations of the vaccines. He is asking vaccinators in all 88 counties to hold a press conference Wednesday or Thursday announcing how seniors can get their first dose of the vaccine.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Health was still awaiting allocation details for the upcoming week, according to a statement from the governor’s office. Health departments will receive a precise number Tuesday evening with allocation details for counties.

After the first group of seniors becomes eligible on Jan. 19, the state has given the following dates for younger seniors: 75 and older: Jan. 25, 70 and older: Feb. 1, 65 and older Feb. 8. On Jan. 25, Ohio will begin offering vaccines on Jan. 25 to people with severe congenital, developmental, or early-onset medical disorders. Then, on Feb. 1  the state will begin immunizations of school staff.

For weeks, DeWine has vocally opposed withholding vaccines as he repeatedly calls for urgency in the vaccination effort. But the state was required to fill a vaccine “bank” as part of the federal effort to immunize nursing homes, he explained.

When the change in federal protocols takes effect, that bank could be released to Ohio at a critical moment in the state's mission to meet the ambitious timeline set forth by DeWine. Prior to news of the federal change, Ohio was expecting to receive only about 100,000 doses per week in January. 

“The Trump administration has indicated a change and it's frankly a welcome change, and that is they will free up the vaccines that have been held back. This gets a little complicated, but they have been holding back vaccines,” DeWine said.  

If a hospital is not interested in making the switch to vaccinating seniors, the state will reallocate that hospital’s vaccine doses, DeWine said.

DeWine said he had to get off the briefing with Pence a bit early to join his own news conference, and he cautioned that details regarding the changes were still evolving.

“We don't know exactly when that is going to start,” DeWine said. “What the federal government is saying basically is we now have confidence enough in our production line coming out of the two manufacturing companies, the two pharmaceutical companies, that we will allow you to move forward on this and we will go ahead and send the second doses.”

In Ohio, 800 providers could begin administering vaccines when seniors become eligible, DeWine said. They will have a large task next week as the they try to administer the first shots to a large swath of the 420,000 eligible Ohioans in the 80 and up age group. Those providers will have seven days to administer their doses, DeWine said.

Ohio reported 100 deaths Tuesday, and a seven-day average of 79 daily deaths, slightly below the all-time high of 85 set last month. The state’s coronavirus numbers continue to show little sign of improvement. The state is averaging 8,276 daily cases in the last week.

The state has began immunizations for 321,506 individuals, which is 2.75% of the population. Recent data may be incomplete due to reporting delays.