By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Tri-County Health Department in northwest Missouri continues to see a high demand for the COVID-19 vaccine among those who are eligible to receive it.
Due to the high interest, the Department has closed its COVID vaccine waiting list, which now has over 1,400 people on it.
Tri-County Health administrator Teresa McDonald says that patients will soon be able to schedule vaccine appointments on their own, and the wait list would just create more hassle.
"That's going to take us a little bit to get through (the 1,400 people)," McDonald said. "By the time we get through it, we'll have a program coming in where people can just get on there and schedule their own appointments. So really, it'd just be double work for us to continue the list at this point."
Those who are on Tri-County's vaccine waiting list will receive a call once an appointment is available.
Once the 1,400 people on the list are taken care of, Tri-County will then share a link on their Facebook page for people to make their own appointments.
Tri-County was denied a shipment of COVID vaccine from the state last week, but Mosaic Life Care provided them 130 doses to help finish vaccinating those in Phase 1a, particularly first responders in DeKalb, Gentry and Worth counties.
McDonald says Tri-County is now working with Mosaic on a mass vaccination clinic in Albany which is set for Monday, Feb. 1.
"With us only having three vaccinators in office, the collaboration with Mosaic will be essential to us," McDonald said. "With that large clinic, we're looking to vaccinate 540 people on that day."
In addition, Tri-County is receiving an additional 600 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the state this week, which will help make up for any delays in Phase 1b vaccinations. Phase 1b includes anyone age 65 or older and adults who are considered high-risk.
"I think with all of the factors coming into play, we're going to see things kind of snowball from here," McDonald said, in reference to the number of people getting vaccines. "It's a combination of factors that have made it so slow thus far."
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