The much-heralded Covid-19 vaccines are in limited supply everywhere, including Greene County.
Greene County director of public health Becky Wolf on Monday provided more detailed information about vaccine distribution.
Currently, healthcare workers and long term care facility residents are receiving the vaccine in Phase 1a. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), and the Infectious Disease Advisory Council (IDAC) has identified those at highest risk for Covid-19 in three groups, or phases. Per IDPH and IDAC, each phase must be completed before moving to the next.
Phase 1b includes:
- Frontline essential workers (fire, law enforcement, corrections, food and agricultural, manufacturing, U.S. Postal Service, grocery stores, public transit and education (teachers, daycare, support staff)
- People 75 years and older because they are at higher risk for hospitalization, illness and death from Covid-19.
Phase 1c includes:
- People 65-75 years old because they are at higher risk for hospitalization, illness and death from Covid-19
- People 16-64 years old with underlying conditions that may result in serious, life-threatening complications from Covid-19
- Other essential workers (transportation and logistics, food service housing construction and finance, information technology, communications, energy, law, media, public safety)
The priority groups may be modified based on ACIP, IDPH, and IDAC recommendations.
Greene County public health will announce in local news media and on social media when the county will move to Phase 1b and 1c, Wolf said.
The vaccines will be available at Medicap and HyVee pharmacies in Jefferson, Greene County Family Medicine and McFarland Clinic, Greene County Medical Center occupational medicine, and Greene County public health.
Wolf requests persons not contact providers until Phase 1b is announced, as there are no waiting lists at this time.
The vaccines will be available free of charge to anyone who is eligible and seeks vaccination. Providers may seek insurance reimbursement to cover the cost of actually giving the injections and recording vaccine information. No one will be turned away from receiving the vaccine due to not having health insurance.
The currently-available vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) require two doses for optimal immunity. There will be no charge for either dose.
