Menu
Health Department keeping pace with supply of COVID-19 vaccine
COVID-19 has presented the kind of crisis public health officials spend years preparing for, hoping they’ll never have to face.
So now that they are faced with a once-a-century pandemic, local officials are finding that those years of preparation and facing other viruses that didn’t have nearly the impact is yielding positive results with the early rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Putnam County Health Officer Dr. Adam Amos is pleased with the performance of the Putnam County Health Department staff he inherited when he took over for the retired Dr. Robert Heavin on Jan. 1.
Amos hasn’t exactly had time to ease into the job, as local vaccine rollout started almost as soon as he took over.
“It’s been plenty busy around here,” Amos said. “So far, we’ve gotten a lot of good, positive feedback. Our patients who are able to get scheduled are happy with how it’s moving along.”
The process hasn’t been without its frustration for some, who have at times found the schedule booked solid at the Putnam County Health Department (PCHD) and had to go to a neighboring county for their first dose of the vaccine.
However, the local health department is using every bit of the supply of Moderna vaccine it receives from the state.
“Right now, I think our bottleneck is the amount that the state allows us to have,” Amos explained. “It’s just a supply issue and how things fall. We’ve had folks come from other counties to here and we have folks go from here to other counties. It just depends on when everybody’s trying to rush in to book the appointments, how it falls from week to week.”
Giving reports to the Putnam County Commissioners and Putnam County Council on Tuesday, PCHD administrator Joni Young underscored this point, forecasting that by Feb. 1, the department will have administered 1,185 COVID-19 vaccines in less than a month.
That’s 40 more than the 1,145 vaccines of any kind the Health Department administered in the entirety of 2020.
So even as some in the community might call for more locations to administer the vaccine, it’s simply not a need that has arisen just yet.
“A lot of people say they’d like to see pods open up but if we had pods, they would be sitting empty because of the supply,” Amos said. “I know the staff has been planning for this since before I was here.”
Thanks to that planning, he’s confident in the expanded plan when the time comes.
“For right now, we’re just ramping it up as we need to,” Amos said. “When we hit a certain number that we’re vaccinating here, that’s when we’ll go to the next step of utilizing other facilities if we need to.”
One such milestone will come in early February when residents begin needing their second dose after the 28-day wait for the Moderna vaccine.
“In theory, we’re going to double our flow here at that 28-day mark from the first vaccine,” Amos said. “That’s when we’ll kind of keep picking things up.”
It will mean going from administering three vaccines every 10 minutes (with a staff of two nurses) to administering six every 10 minutes.
For now, at least, the operation can remain at the PCHD office inside the Putnam County Hospital Medical Office Building (1500 Bloomington St., Suite 1500). Amos explained what the process is like for those getting the vaccine.
“They check in to let us know they’re here for their appointment,” he said. “They are taken to one of our vaccination rooms, where they get the vaccine and check in for their next appointment. With the vaccine we have right now (Moderna), it’s a 28-day wait until their second dose.”
Amos emphasizes that everyone remembers they aren’t immune until they’ve received the second dose.
“You have to pretend like you haven’t had it yet. You’re not immune for several weeks, so you still have to be careful,” he said.
Once the vaccine has been administered, the patients are taken to the lobby, where they wait for 15 to 30 minutes depending on risk factors to make sure there’s no allergic reaction.
“We have it set up so they can all socially distance out in the lobby,” Amos said. “We have folks out there keeping an eye on them so that just in case anyone were to have a reaction. Thankfully, we haven’t had any of those yet.”
The social distancing remains key throughout the process, even as the supply ramps up in the coming weeks and months.
“As much as we want to get everybody vaccinated, we don’t want to give anybody COVID,” Amos said.
Although supply is one part of the process that is out of the hands of local officials, Amos is confident the state will continue to increase supply and get localities what they need.
“I’m really appreciative for the epidemiologists and the people at the state that we have,” Amos said. “They can help to make sure that our supply is met when we need it.”
Additionally, the second dose is identical to the first, meaning there’s no additional worries about its availability.
“The second dose is exactly the same thing,” Amos explained. “What happens is, that first dose kind of primes your immune system and that second dose really takes advantage of that primed immune system to spur on a long-lasting immunity.
“That’s why it really takes that second dose to make sure you’re fully immune.”
Until then, Amos is urging patience, both from those who’ve received their first dose and those awaiting eligibility.
At this time, those eligible for the vaccine remain residents over 70 years old and workers in certain health-related fields.
The doctor reiterated how fortunate he is to have a good staff already in place, singling out Young, public health nurse Sara Burnett and preparedness coordinator Brian Williams.
“Yes, it’s been an adjustment, but at the same time, these guys make it as easy as it could be,” Amos said. “Without them, it would be much more difficult.”
As time passes, Amos is confident that this staff, complemented by volunteers and others, will get the job done of getting the vaccine to all who want it in Putnam County.
“I think as our supply continues to increase, and we have seen it increase from week to week, eventually we’ll be able to get things moving and get everybody vaccinated, Lord willing,” Amos said.