Public Health Working To Get Vaccinees Out
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Mahaska County Public Health, in cooperation with Mahaska Health and Mahaska County Emergency Management, are working on getting vaccines out to individuals in the 1B group as quickly as possible.
In an interview with Oskaloosa News, Mahaska Health’s Denyse Gipple said there was some good news this week from the State of Iowa.
Gipple said they have learned that their vaccine allocation is slated to be consistent throughout February.
To start the 1B phase, Mahaska County received 100 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and later in the week received an additional 300 doses to use as prime vaccine.
The prime dose, otherwise known as the first dose, will then be followed up with the second dose accordingly.
The 1B group includes those Mahaska County residents who are age 65 and older. There are approximately 4000 residents in the county that meet that age requirement.
When asked about the length of time it would take to vaccinate those residents with just 400 doses a week, Mahaska County Public Health Coordinator Patty Malloy said she expressed that to the State of Iowa.
Malloy expects that once the long-term care facilities have been fully vaccinated by pharmacies, those additional doses will be reallocated for use in the population’s 1B segment.
Part of that 4000 Mahaska County residents live in long-term care facilities and have already been or are finishing up their second dose of the vaccine.
At this point, approximately 1200 people within Mahaska County have already received at least one dose of the vaccine.
When it comes to getting that crucial second dose, Gipple said that the State would send that allocation out at the appropriate time, and that dose has already been set aside.
Mahaska County Public Health is utilizing the Mahaska Alert System that Mahaska County Emergency Management operates to help organize and alert individuals when vaccine doses will become available. “When that alert goes out that we can take appointments, we will be ready at the phones and making appointments instead of taking names,” explained Malloy.
In order to help more people get the information they need, Mahaska Health set up an additional phone line to help make that available.
That phone number is (641) 672-3445 to learn more.
Public Health says they are working with the school districts to help them get their staff vaccinated and coordinate those efforts with the districts.
Also in that 1B group are emergency responders such as fire and police.
You can find out more by visiting the Mahaska Health website at https://www.mahaskahealth.org/ or sign up for the Mahaska Alert system here – http://entry.inspironlogistics.com/mahaska_ia/wens.cfm
