COVID Vaxing to Begin in Valley County

Valley County Health Department director Lynn Miller announced at a special meeting of the board of health on Dec. 21 that the county will receive 200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to administer to frontline health care workers.

Miller said the doses will be divvied up between Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, STAT Air and local ambulance services. She also explained that the county received the Moderna version of the vaccine which requires less in the way of transportation and storage. The Pfizer vaccine, which was available first, requires a specific level of cold storage that is not available in the county.

Miller told the Courier that the process of beginning vaccinations could start as early as Dec. 23 but was most likely going to begin the Monday following Christmas on Dec. 27 after a plan and waiver forms could be hashed out with STAT Air.

“We want to get to STAT Air Monday or Tuesday,” stated Miller. The exact timing will depend on the arrival of the doses and the availability of health care workers. She explained that once a vial of 10 doses is opened each dose must be administered within six hours, “so we won’t even begin until we have 10 people in a room because we are not going to waste a single dose.”

Currently the health department plans to send 170 doses to FMDH, 20 to STAT Air and 10 to local ambulance services. The timing for future vaccines is currently unknown and even this round happened more quickly than anticipated.

“There was nothing available on this until Sunday (Dec. 20),” said Miller. She added that a number of details are still being worked out, but that this is the first step in the potential end of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s just fantastic,” said Miller. “Tears of joy, I tell ya.”

She expressed hope that things will return to normal soon and that public health could fade into the background. She added, “because we’re tired of masks too.”