Poking along

Clay County Public Health still isn't having trouble finding arms for the limited doses of COVID-19 vaccine it receives each week.

Department Coordinator Colette Rossiter said rollout has continued to progress as fast as possible this month. With more Iowans eligible to receive a shot, demand has only continued to increase. She stressed patience as the nation's vaccine supply builds and more doses become available to the greater public.

She also noted that even though more Iowans are inoculated against COVID-19, precautions must be maintained.

"COVID-19 is still active in the area and sample testing shows that the COVID-19 variants of the virus are in Iowa," she said. "We continue to encourage people to practice the basic, yet important health mitigation techniques of thorough hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks appropriately when in areas where social distancing can't be maintained."

Clay County Public Health's vaccine supply has remained consistent throughout February and early March, with 300 doses being allocated each week. Rossiter noted some weeks her department has received 200 of those doses with the other 100 going to a local pharmacy partner.

"For example, last week Thrifty White had 100 doses and this week Walgreens received 100. Next week, we anticipate all 300 doses coming to Clay County Public Health," she said.

Clay County Public Health has only received Moderna's vaccine during the rollout process. Rossiter noted that Hy-Vee pharmacy has begun receiving weekly allocations as part of a federal pharmacy partnership program, a factor she said has helped the local supply somewhat.

"Still, demand has been greater than our vaccine supply," she admitted. "We've been able to schedule eligible recipients to use all of our weekly allocation."

Last week, Clay County Public Health moved to Tier 2 of the 1b eligibility group, which includes manufacturing, food processing and ag production workers whose job environment cannot physically provide a distance of six feet or greater between employees. Tier 2 also includes people who are home bound due to a disability and their direct care provider.

Additionally, Iowa opened eligibility to anyone with an underlying health condition, as defined by the CDC, which puts them at greater risk for coronavirus-related health complications.

"This a large percentage of the population, which will take some time to immunize with the currently weekly allocation of vaccine," Rossiter said.

Clay County Public Health is working directly with industries to identify their needs, as well as health services such as cardiac rehab, pulmonary rehab, Abben Cancer Center and Warner Dialysis Center. The local COVID vaccine call center opens when vaccine is available to schedule appointments at (712) 264-6514 or toll-free, 1-800-848-0638. An online scheduling option is also available on Spencer Hospital's website.

HyVee pharmacy offers online scheduling as well at http://www.hy-vee.com/my-pharmacy/covid-vaccine.