Public Health prepares to offer jabs for all

Within the next couple of weeks, Crook County Public Health (CCPH) is aiming to meet its goal of injecting a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine program into the arm of every person who is currently signed up on its waiting list. This has become possible because Wyoming is preparing to move into Phase 2 of the COVID-19 vaccination program, which will open up the opportunity to anyone who wants it.

“We’re still in Phase 1c, working our way through the list going from the highest ages down. We should be able to get through a lot of people in the next couple of weeks,” says Melanie Wilmer, CCPH response coordinator.

Phase 1c includes the homeless, those who live in group settings (including college dormitories and prisons) and critical infrastructure workers. It’s easier for a small county like this one to work through the list, Wilmer says, and the coming weeks will see things open up even further.

“We are planning another mass vaccination clinic. It will be by appointment like it was before, and that should pretty much take care of everyone who is on the list,” she says.

The mass vaccination clinic is scheduled for early April. The aim is to complete the current waiting list but Wilmer cautions that there is always the possibility of a brief delay due to, for example, random national weather events delaying delivery, as has happened recently.

Assuming no delays occur, if you have already placed your name on the waiting list, Wilmer says that you should soon receive a call from CCPH to let you know the time of your appointment.

“We will tell you the date and time and where to go,” Wilmer says.

The clinic is not open for walk-in appointments due to the storage requirements of the vaccine, because of which all the doses within an individual vial must be administered within a limited number of hours.

As the second phase of vaccinations arrives, CCPH will be looking to expand its waiting list to anyone who is interested in receiving their shot. Please contact the office to give your name and contact information and you will be alerted when a dose becomes available.

“We would welcome anybody who wants to be put on the list,” Wilmer says.

As of Tuesday, a total of 1006 first doses have been administered in Crook County and 789 second doses (not including the 60 first and 60 second doses that were directed to Crook County Medical Services District for staff and residents.) The county is still receiving 100 doses per week, mostly of the Moderna vaccine.

Five doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in this county and CCPH is not expecting to receive this version in large quantities. They will likely be reserved for home-bound patients and those who have issues receiving shots.

At this time, no patients who have received the vaccine in Crook County has experienced a severe allergic reaction.

“Anything that we’ve seen has just been very mild – and very rare,” says Wilmer. “Your symptoms after you have the first shot range from having a sore arm to moderately symptomatic immune response, and it’s the same for the second.”

Crook County is still enjoying a period of extremely low infection rates and no local hospitalizations, although a streak of several weeks without any new cases was broken last week when three new confirmed COVID-19 cases were added to the county’s tally. This brings the Crook County totals to 390 confirmed and 32 probable cases.

Wyoming as a whole is also experiencing low case rates, with just 335 new laboratory-confirmed cases and 37 new probable cases between March 15 and 22. Over the last week, the number of active cases has also declined by 50, leaving this state with just 419 active infections.