<p>By TOMMY REZAC</p><p><i>St. Joseph Post</i></p><p>MAYSVILLE - Teresa McDonald works as the administrator for the Tri-County Health Department, which covers Worth, Gentry and DeKalb counties in Missouri.</p><p>She's also one of just three registered nurses covering the more than 21,000 people who live in this are a.</p><p>"We do have a very small team to cover three counties," McDonald said. "So, it's a lot of leg work. It's tight even before you go into pandemic mode."</p><p>Due to this staff shortage, and an overwhelming interest in the COVID-19 vaccine, the Tri-County Health Department created a vaccine waiting list to help streamline the process.</p><p>"It allows me to sort through the people who are calling in by the category they fall in on the state (priority) list," McDonald said. "It allows me to see where they're located and know what town to set a clinic up in. It allows me to be able to know how many vaccines to order."</p><p>Tri-County Health ordered a little more than 100 doses of the Pfizer vaccine for people in Phase 1a - medical personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. About 110 of those people were vaccinated this past Tuesday, and another 110 are set to get the vaccine this coming Tuesday (January 19), including first responders as well.</p><p>On Thursday, the state of Missouri announced changes to its vaccine plans. Specifically, the activation of Phase 1b, starting Monday. This includes people over age 65, high-risk individuals and first responders.</p><p>This plan was announced <i>after</i> Tri-County Health had already placed their second order of vaccines. That order was only for people in Phase 1a.</p><p>The Center for Disease Control requires any entity providing COVID-19 vaccines in Missouri to be registered with the state. It's also the state who decides what people fall under which tier, which ultimately dictates where people land on the vaccine priority list.</p><p>McDonald says this makes planning at the local level highly difficult.</p><p>"When the state made that change, it happened after I had placed my order," McDonald said. "There's a waiting period after your order and a waiting period after you make your distribution agreement with other counties. So, it makes it hard to order the correct amount and hard to determine when you're going to start those vaccination clinics."</p><p>With sudden changes announced, and a growing demand for the vaccine, McDonald started a waiting list for the Tri-County area. Those who fall in the Phase 1a or 1b category can call Tri-County to fill out a questionnaire.</p><p>"We get their name, age, phone number, what town they live in and occupation," McDonald said, "as well as any conditions that would put them in a high-risk category. Then, they're color coated (on a spreadsheet) whether they fall under Phase 1a, 1b, Tier 1 or 2, and so on."</p><p>The Tri-County Health Department's small staff has been spread thin during this pandemic, as have countless other health departments across rural America.</p><p>The battle against COVID is not over, but for McDonald and residents of the Tri-County area, the vaccine waiting list can provide some organization and clarity as the vaccine continues to be rolled out.</p><p>"I have 812 people on this waiting list (as of Friday)," McDonald said. "That does not count other people like the caregivers we just finished vaccinating this week. The first responders will be taken care of next week."</p><div><div id="fb-root"></div>
<script async defer crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v9.0" nonce="fbDX0ceV"></script></div><div><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/tricountyhealthdept/posts/3773884509334666" data-width="500" data-show-text="true"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/tricountyhealthdept/posts/3773884509334666" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>Good morning! Due to an overwhelming interest in COVID-19 vaccine we are going to try something new. Below are two...</p>Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tricountyhealthdept/">Tri-County Health Department</a> on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/tricountyhealthdept/posts/3773884509334666">Thursday, January 14, 2021</a></blockquote></div></div><p><i>You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.</i></p>

Tri-County Health Department, staffed by just three nurses, creates COVID vaccine waiting list