Phase 2 of vaccinations gets off to a slow start

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COVID-19 IN OKLAHOMA

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  • Comanche County Memorial Hospital photo via Facebook                    A registered nurse receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 16, 2020, after a press conference at Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – This week began the big rollout across the state of expanded COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

City and county health departments working in conjunction with the Oklahoma State Department of Health began giving vaccinations for those 65 and older as the Phase 2 distribution schedule.

However, the rollout hasn’t gone as smoothly as some health officials and residents would have liked.

“Our vaccine rollout can only go as quickly as we’re getting supplies from the federal government,” Dr. Lance Frye, the OSDH interim health commissioner, said Monday in a virtual press conference.

Because of the limited quantities, it was not a full rollout. Only first responders, health care workers, and those who are 65 and older qualified to receive the vaccine.

Even though Gov. Kevin Stitt moved teachers up into the Phase 2 distribution schedule, they are not part of the initial rollout. They and people under 65 with long-term illnesses will have to wait.

Comanche, Caddo and Jackson counties were part of the group that used a free online signup sheet to make appointments for those who are 65 and older looking to get their vaccination starting on Jan. 4. County health departments opened up the signup sheets to the public late last week. Every time slot in those counties was filled before the weekend.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Health Keith Reed, it took only minutes for every available time slot in the state for this week to be filled.

“Any concern that people aren’t interested in getting a vaccine is pretty much out the window from what I can tell, because we are getting a lot of calls and a lot of interest out there on getting vaccinations and getting appointments,” said Reed.

Future vaccination clinics will be announced to the public once the information is made available. Officials are telling residents to pay attention to public messaging and social media to keep up to date on when the clinics will take place.

Because the OSHD doesn’t find out until Tuesday how many doses of the vaccine the state will get for the following week, Reed says clinics are limited to how far in advance they can schedule vaccination appointments.

“You have to do this now one week at a time until we get better information from Operation Warp Speed at the federal level and better understand how much vaccine we have moving forward,” Reed said. “A lot of this information we get just a few days at a time ... so it doesn’t give us a lot of lead time to predict when we will be able to serve certain groups.”

The OSDH announced Monday it’s planning to launch its own vaccine scheduling app Jan. 7. This will allow the public to use their smartphones to instantly check available time slots and sign up for them.

However, because many in the state do not own smartphones or have reliable internet service, it still leaves making an appointment an issue for certain groups.

“This is going to be a very difficult process,” Reed said. “It’s going to be a long process, and there’s going to be a lot of challenges. In order to try to keep everything completely, completely fair on the same level, that’s going to be a very difficult thing. Those that are quicker on the draw are likely to get the vaccine quicker, unfortunately, in some of these cases.”