GEORGETOWN, Ky. (LEX 18) — In the three-county area served by WEDCO District Health Department, roughly 6,000 COVID-19 vaccinations have been given thus far, and the area could soon move into the next phase of recipients outside of groups 1-A and 1-B.
“What we’re running into now is people that are very close to 70, that have health conditions and really need in, so we expect to be in (group) 1-C by the beginning of March,” said Dr. Crystal Miller, the director of public health for WEDCO.
Miller said the weather slowed things down a bit and a few clinics had to be postponed. But because they had the resources to move things to a Sunday, no dose went to waste. Now they can begin to make up for lost time, created by that trifecta of storms we had.
“We are able to scale up, or scale down our vaccine clinics based on the vaccine supply we have on hands, so we have not had an issue with utilizing our staff and resources,” Miller said.
Currently, the state of Kentucky ranks 31st in overall distribution according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Weather could be one reason why only 81% of available doses have been administered, but Miller thinks there are other factors in play.
“We’ll wrap up (a clinic) and we’ll have three or four extra doses, so we have to find three or four people, hopefully in that phase, to take those doses. That’s just managing the situation of manufacturing issues,” she said.
Miller noted that the positivity rate in the WEDCO counties is way down, which has to do not only with the vaccinations that have been given, but the fact that a majority of people are now complying with mask-wearing orders while staying home due to the extreme cold we’ve had.
“I think it’s a combination of those things. Just hasn’t been a great time to go out to do anything,” she said.
WEDCO runs three clinics weekly in each of the three counties it serves. Click here to see when they will be in your neighborhood and to schedule an appointment.
