Utah Governor Cox at the H2Oath News Conference in June 2021. Photo: Utah State Office of the Governor

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. — Governor Spencer Cox published a statement today apologizing for data errors reported by the Utah Department of Health (DOH). The DOH reported 70% of adult Utahs receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Despite state authorities being skeptical of the high number, after triple-checking, they were confident enough to publish the figure. “A couple days ago, we learned that there was a mistake in the way we had counted federal doses,” the statement reads. “It soon became clear that we had only reached 67.07%. While federal data sharing has been extremely difficult, this one is on us. Our data team is devastated and embarrassed. And so am I. We screwed up. And I sincerely apologize.”

“We will continue to do everything possible to make vaccinations easier and more accessible. And we will continue to hold ourselves accountable,” said the Governor.