The Athens City-County Health Department on Wednesday began administering COVID-19 vaccines to EMS workers and select congregate care facilities at a point of dispensing clinic (POD) located at the Athens Community Center.
The health department on Monday received 500 total doses of the Moderna vaccine, 190 of which were immediately given to Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare, a psychiatric hospital for mentally ill adults in southeast Ohio, health department Administrator Jack Pepper said in an emailed statement.
“We are pleased that the vaccine has arrived in Athens County and are looking forward to getting it quickly dispensed to the highest priority groups as identified by the Ohio Department of Health,” he said.
Local health departments are primarily tasked by the state with vaccinating EMS responders and health care workers who aren’t necessarily on the frontline, including dentists and hospice workers.
Athens County EMS employs 66 people who are all eligible to receive the vaccine.
The health department is also responsible for inoculating residents and staff of long-term care facilities that aren’t enrolled in the federal government’s plan to vaccinate them though CVS Health or Walgreens, which both began immunizations on Monday all across the country, including in Athens County.
Pepper expects to hold dozens more POC clinics but can’t say for sure when they might be because of the short vaccine supply.
“Vaccine allocation is very tight at this time and will continue that way until vaccine production and procurement are maximized,” he said.
Moderna’s vaccine was granted emergency use authorization last Friday by the Food and Drug Administration and has been shown to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19-related illness in patients.
Post a comment as
Report
Watch this discussion.
(1) comment
Ohio Dept of Health says these are the priorities:
Residents and staff nursing facilities
Residents and staff assisted living centers
Residents and staff at state psychiatric hospitals
Residents and staff in group homes for people with disabilities and mental illness
Residents and staff at Ohio's veteran homes
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Please write and submit your comment, and after a short delay it should post to the comment section of the chosen article, as long as it abides by the standard rules below. (On occasion, the delay will be longer but we will get to it as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience.)
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.