Oklahoma State Department of Health officials have announced they are beginning to transition to Phase 2 of the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines and individuals 65 and older are among those scheduled to receive it.
Tonya Reid, CHES/Health Educator and a spokesperson for the Lincoln County Health Department, said, “Oklahomans who are 65 and older will be able to receive the vaccine at Points of Dispensing Sites (PODS) locations in the coming weeks.”
People 65 and older throughout Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties are among those throughout the state asking when they can expect to receive the vaccine and how to go about getting vaccinated.
State officials said that others included in Phase 2 include some teachers, first responders and healthcare workers.
“For individuals that receive the vaccine during the specific phases, we will have a procedure in place for either calling to make an appointment, make an appointment online or walk-in,” Reid said.
“When it is time for the public to be aware of this information, we will send an update via email like we have been doing to communicate this to the public and share on our social media pages to ensure every one is aware of how to receive their vaccine.”
“That will be determined by each phase, location and event we hold in the future as we develop and pilot best processes in our earlier phases.”
More information about the vaccine availability to the 65 and older population is expected to become available as the state receives further information regarding ongoing supply. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, as of Dec. 4 there were
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, as of Dec. 4 there were 537 Pandemic vaccination providers across the state who have enrolled to provide the vaccine as it becomes available.
This list may have been updated since Dec. 4.
Of those there are 12 in Pottawatomie County and three in Lincoln County.
In Lincoln County, they are:
The Lincoln County Health Department in Chandler, the Main Street Family Healthcare Nurse Practitioner Clinic in Stroud and SSM Health Chandler Clinic.
In Pottawatomie County, they include:
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Health Services-East Clinic, Citizen Potawatomi Nation West Clinic, Pottawatomie County Health Department, SSM Health Medical Group-Koons, SSM Health-Shawnee, SSM Health Medical Group Family Healthcare Clinic, SSM Health Medical Group Tecumseh/SSM Health Tecumseh, SSM Medical Group McLoud, SSM Health Medical Group-IM1-Shawnee, SSM Health Medical Group-PULM/SSM Medical Group Koons, SSM-Shawnee Family Med and St Anthony Shawnee Hospital.
State officials said on Monday during a question and answer session on the Phase 2 distribution they were hoping for 32,500 doses to arrive this week in Oklahoma.
Keith Reed, Deputy Commissioner of the OSDH, emphasized during that question and answer session that “there is a reason we are using an appointment system.”
He and Dr. Lance Frye, State Commissioner of Health, discussed the Vaccine Scheduling App that is supposed to be launched today (Jan. 7).
One of the concerns they pointed to was “We don’t know how much of the vaccine we will get from week to week.”