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More than 3,600 Humboldt County Phase IA health care providers have received their first COVID-19 vaccine since the first shipment arrived in the county in mid-December. The administration of the remaining 2,000 doses from the first round will continue tomorrow.
Public health is working closely with the county emergency operations center to set up clinics to continue administering first doses to other people in the Phase 1A category, which continues to include care-related entities. health. Invitational-only clinics are expected to run three days a week for the next six weeks and will include immunizations for healthcare staff from offices that are not part of a larger healthcare entity such as a network of healthcare professionals. hospitals or clinics.
The second doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which include a primer dose followed by a booster 21 days and 28 days later respectively, are arriving in the county and will be administered starting this week.
While public health plans to receive between 1,000 and 2,000 vaccines per week, Dr Ian Hoffman, Humboldt County health official, said: “As the second doses arrive, the first doses arrive. can slow down, which we have seen happening this week.
He said planning for the distribution was underway. St. Joseph Hospitals, Mad River Community Hospital, Jerold Phelps Community Hospital, Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District, United Indian Health Services, Open Door Community Health Center, Southern Trinity Health Services, and the Public Health Branch are licensed by the state to administer the vaccine .
“The first step was for each agency to go through its own qualified staff. Now they are branching out to deliver the vaccine to other qualified providers, and there are thousands of them, ”Dr. Hoffman said, adding that this week, the vaccinators at Mad River and St. Joseph hospitals will be focusing. on the administration of second doses to staff.
While the primary role of public health is to coordinate vaccine distribution and manage contact tracing of positive COVID-19 cases, public health nurses have stepped in to vaccinate when needed, administering dozens of vaccines to skilled nursing facility employees over the weekend and will also run the immunization clinics.
Dr Hoffman said he hopes the next phase vaccination will start towards the end of winter, but stressed that it depends on many factors. “We depend on the number of doses given to us and we continue to plan with many eventualities in mind,” he said. “Each agency authorized to administer a vaccine has many other responsibilities to our community. It is important not to overwhelm the system that also takes care of our society.
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