LCHD has 3,300 on 65+ list for vaccinations

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Drive-up clinic planned for next week ONLY for 200 county residents 65 and over with prescheduled appointments.

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Lee County Health officials said they are expecting to see an increase in doses received from the state Monday, a move outlined by Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday.

But with the increase, the county could see a doubling of what they received in their last allocations, which was just 100 doses.

Lee County Health Department Administrator Michele Ross said the county is expecting 200 doses the first week of February, compared to their last allotment of 100.

"Starting next week, 200 individuals from our 65 years of age and older call back list will be vaccinated," Ross said. "Our call back list now includes over 3,300 individuals from that group."

Those appointments have already been set for those 200 65 and over vaccinations. The LCHD staff has planned to test a drive-thru clinic outside the John Bennett center in Fort Madison starting next week.

Those clinics will not be advertised as people without a prescheduled appointment will not be able to show up for a vaccine. Only those 65 and older who have been contacted by LCHD officials and received a time slot will be able to enter the clinic to get a vaccine.

Ross said the Iowa Department of Public Health determines allocations of doses based on population data from Iowa's 99 counties. Ross said the doses are prime, or 1st doses. Booster vaccinations will be set up as the county receives the booster allocations, and should be conducted 28 days after the first dose.

Lee County Health Department has received 600 prime doses to date and 500 booster doses to date.

"These all have been accounted for and no doses have been wasted," Ross said.

LCHD has not yet scheduled any employer based clinics as part of the Iowa Department of Public Health's Phase 1b Tier listing. Ross said that won't happen until adequate vaccine supplies have been allocated to meet the demand.

Fort Madison Community Hospital and county long-term care centers have been vaccinated through their respective allotments and protocols. All nursing homes in northern Lee County have received primary doses through the federal partnership with national pharmacy chains, including Walgreens.

Reynolds said Tuesday the boosters should be completed by the first week of February and she's hoping to get any remaining doses not used by pharmacies back in the state's hands for Phase 1b's rollout.

Through Wednesday, 1,943 Lee County residents has received vaccinations. That number includes residents vaccinated by all providers and not just LCHD, including the hospitals and pharmacy chains.

LCHD has been receiving the Moderna vaccine which requires the booster at 28 days. Moderna sends vials with 10 doses in them, so the LCHD has received 60 vials of prime doses and 50 vials of booster doses.

According to the state coronavirus.iowa.gov website, 1,943 county residents have received a vaccine, while 1,997 vaccines have been given in the county. The difference is individuals that work in health care settings that don't live in the county.

The site reports that 380 county residents have received the full series of vaccines in Lee County, 290 of those have been through county providers.

Statewide 209,575 doses have been administered through Wednesday, 198,764 went to Iowa residents, while the rest have gone to those working in Iowa but living outside the state. The doses statewide are almost split evenly between Pfizer and Moderna.

Across the state 1,460,880 million residents have been tested and 3,568,223 test have been conducted. The state has had 316,679 individuals test positive and 341,976 total positive tests. That would indicate a total number of positive test results to total tests given of 9.6%, where as 21.7% of those residents tested have, at some point, tested positive.

Lee County's 14-day positivity rate of Thursday is 14% tied for 10th highest in the state. It's 7-day rating is 10%, tied for 14th highest currently in the state.

The county has had 3,319 total positive cases through Wednesday and has seen 34 deaths, 28 attributed to underlying causes but positive for COVID, and six directly attributed to COVID-19. The county has seen 2,860 recover from the illness.

Corrected with information that Monday will NOT be the first date of vaccinations, those will start with pre-scheduled appointments on Tuesday.

appointments, doses, Feb. 1, Iowa Public Health Department, Lee County Health Department, news, Pen City Current, seniors, vaccinations

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