Marion County Suspends COVID-19 Vaccine Registration for Residents 65 and Over

COVID-19 vaccine registration for residents 65 years of age or older has been suspended in Marion County.

The Marion County Department of Health has temporarily closed the vaccine registration due to registrations exceeding the department’s initial cap of 50,000 registrations.

“We are capping the number of people included in this first round of registrations to allow staff to work on the current list of registrants and get them fully immunized,” said Mark Lander, administrator of the Marion County Department of Health. . “We will reopen registrations once the first group of 50,000 registrants have completed their vaccinations.”

DOH-Marion planners call registrants in the order in which their registrations were received. Once planners have conducted a telephone screening with registrants, they will schedule a vaccination appointment. Due to the number of people who have registered, it will take several weeks to go through the list of registrants and schedule appointments. The first appointments of the ministry take place on Tuesday January 5.

The Department of Health will vaccinate with Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks. These vaccines are both two-dose injections. Moderna requires 28 days between the first and second shot. Pfizer needs 21 days between the first and second shot.

DOH-Marion phone lines overloaded

The ministry continues to receive a high volume of phone calls, resulting in people receiving messages that the ministry phone numbers are not working. As the phone lines are blocked, staff also find it difficult to call from the facility and calls are dropped. People who have signed up for a COVID-19 vaccination and have not yet received a call are asked to refrain from calling the department to see where they are on the list or when they will receive a call. subject to vaccination.

“People who have signed up for the system will receive a reminder once the vaccine is available and a time and location is set for them to receive it,” Lander said. “Know that we are not sitting on any vaccine here. As soon as the vaccination possibilities are available, we make these vaccination appointments.