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Dr. David Louis receives the COVID-19 vaccine from Registered Nurse Kylee Reineke on Wednesday morning at the Auglaize County Health Department in Wapakoneta.
CELINA - The Mercer County Health District will host its first drive-thru COVID-19 vaccine clinic for people 80 and older on Wednesday.
Officials announced the clinic during Wednesday's health board meeting and later in a joint news release with the Mercer County Emergency Management Agency.
The first group in Phase 1B of the the state's vaccination plan is people 80 and older. The clinic will be from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Mercer County Fairgrounds.
The vaccine will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. No appointments will be scheduled, administrator Jason Menchhofer said.
Officials anticipate having nearly 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine available, so the clinic may close early if demand is high and the supply is exhausted.
Eligible people wanting to be vaccinated are asked to bring their insurance card and identification or other proof of age to the clinic. Individuals who do not meet the criteria will not be vaccinated. All private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare will be billed for a vaccine administration fee. No out-of-pocket payment will be collected.
The vaccine will require two doses. Individuals who receive their first dose on Jan. 20 will be due for their second dose after Feb. 17, according to the release. Individuals will need to receive their second dose from the same manufacturer as the first dose.
Board member Alyssa Tobe noted receiving the second dose is critical to securing immunity. One dose will not provide full immunity, and people will need to continue to wear masks and social distance even after both doses.
Studies have proven the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing people from becoming sick, but whether they can keep a person from spreading the virus is still unknown.
Possible side effects include fatigue, headache, soreness or redness at the injection site and muscle or joint pain. While they may be uncomfortable, side effects are indicators that the body is responding to the vaccine and creating immunity to the virus, officials have said.
People who receive the vaccine will be asked to wait 15 minutes to monitor for any serious side effects, although health district epidemiologist Deb Scheer said staff have not seen any serious or severe reactions during previous in-person vaccine clinics.
Officials are asking people in Phase 1B categories to monitor mchdohio.org, social media, the newspaper and other media outlets for more information as it becomes available. Officials asked that people follow these sources rather than call the health district.
The health district and Mercer County EMA are planning future drive-thru clinics for the other groups in Phase 1B. Scheer said officials hope to have a weekly drive-thru vaccine clinic.
Other groups in Phase 1B will be eligible for vaccination in the following weeks. On Jan. 25, vaccinations will be available for people aged 75 and older. Also eligible on Jan. 25 are people with severe congenital, developmental or early onset medical disorders. Scheer noted that health officials are still waiting to learn which medical disorders are included in this group.
People 70 years old or older and people who work in schools can be vaccinated on Feb. 1. On Feb. 8, vaccinations will be available for people 65 and older.
Menchhofer said the district's ability to vaccinate is dependent upon how many vaccines are allotted, not the staff's ability to vaccinate. The district will receive 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine next week in addition to the remaining doses from Wednesday's in-person clinic.
As federal reserves of vaccines are released, Menchhofer said he hopes officials will receive more doses.
Officials in Wednesday's release also said a statewide vaccine provider search is available on the Ohio Department of Health's website at coronavirus.ohio.gov/vaccine.
In a social media post, health district officials reported 22 new cases of COVID-19, raising the cumulative total to 3,589; seven current hospitalizations; a cumulative 643 probable cases; 69 deaths; 18 probable deaths; and 3,301 people who have recovered. Of the confirmed cases, 199 are active.
In Auglaize County, officials in a joint news release said the health department, Kroger, Grand Lake Health System and Mercy Health will provide COVID-19 vaccines for county residents.
Registered Nurse Kylee Reineke gives Kenton Stamm a COVID-19 vaccination on Wednesday morning at the Auglaize County Health Department in Wapakoneta.
Although the health department began scheduling appointments only for people aged 80 and older on Wednesday, officials on the same day said they are "fully booked" until Jan. 29. If people in the 80-and-older group have called to be vaccinated and have not been contacted, officials urged them to call another provider.
Grand Lake Health System officials in the joint release said they will inform eligible recipients that they will be able to fill out an online form available via the health system website, which puts patients on a waiting list. Eligible patients will then be contacted by phone to schedule an appointment.
The hospital will use its website, patient portal and social media sites to provide information about vaccine clinics. Patients are encouraged to enroll through the portal and follow the website and social media.
Kroger of St. Marys encourages its customers to visit kroger.com/ohiocovidvaccine or to call its COVID-19 vaccine help line at 866-211-5320 for the latest information. The help line will be active starting Saturday. Vaccines will be provided only to people aged 80 and older. All COVID-19 vaccines will require an appointment via the above website or phone number once vaccines are available.
At Mercy Health-St. Rita's, people 80 and older can schedule a vaccine appointment by calling 866-624-0366, or if individuals are established Mercy Health patients, they can call their provider to schedule.
All officials ask for patience as the vaccine supply is limited.
Auglaize County Health Department officials in a news release on Wednesday also reported 18 new cases, raising that county's confirmed number to 3,067; 952 probable cases; 159 total hospitalizations; 48 deaths; and 3,389 people who are presumed to have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of Wednesday night, the ODH reported a cumulative 799,639 confirmed and probable cases in the state, 42,151 hospitalizations and 9,881 confirmed and probable deaths in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
| Ohio cases | 799,639 |
| Ohio deaths | 9,881 |
| Mercer County cases | 3,589 |
| Mercer County deaths | 69 |
| Auglaize County cases | 3,067 |
| Auglaize County deaths | 48 |
