Douglas County Launches Online Registration for COVID-19 Vaccine Alerts for People 65 and Over



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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Douglas County Department of Health on Tuesday launched its notification portal for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents aged 65 and over.

According to a statement from the Douglas County Department of Health, the county’s COVID-19 portal registration list allows users to enter their email address so the health department can facilitate communication about availability. vaccination.

Dr. Anne O’Keefe led the launch of the Douglas County Department of Health website. She says there’s no need to rush out and try to register today.

“Don’t worry about going there today and being on this list,” said Dr O’Keefe, the senior epidemiologist. “Again, it’s not a waiting list or anything like that. Just sign up for an email notification and there is … an unlimited number of people can do it. People can definitely wait a few days and sign up if they want to. “

“Putting your name on the list only confirms that you will be notified when the vaccine is available,” the statement said. “This is not an appointment for a vaccination.”

People aged 65 and over have been prioritized for the start of the state’s phase 1B deployment. Once Phase 1A is complete, DCHD will send emails to people aged 65 and over who have signed up for status updates. This email notification will include a link to schedule an appointment, depending on the DCHD version.

Nearly 1,900 people entered their names into the database in a phased launch over the weekend, the statement said.

When the site officially launched Tuesday morning, that number jumped to over 9,000 within hours. The influx of registrations caused a slight problem.

“Whenever a lot of people try to access the website at the same time sometimes the website doesn’t perform as well and I think that is what happened this morning,” Dr O ‘said Keefe. “So we worked with the company to try to find a way to mitigate that and hopefully it will be better. We got a lot of phone calls from people who didn’t know how to sign up, so I think having a video, you know, walking people through it will help a lot. “

While there is still a long way to go in trying to bring the virus under control, Dr O’Keefe feels optimistic for the months to come, seeing the interest the vaccine has generated.

“As long as we’re going through that initial little website push, we can handle it. That’s all I’m worried about today. But yes, I have high hopes for this vaccine. This vaccine is such an effective vaccine. I mean it’s not … it’s better than so many other vaccines that we have. So it’s really exciting that science has brought us to this point.

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