Follow the guidelines for getting 2nd dose

CELINA - Mercer County Health District officials over the weekend gave additional information on how people will receive their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health district administrator Jason Menchhofer on Sunday said when a person receives their first dose, they are automatically reserved a spot at the corresponding second dose clinic.

People who received their first dose will not need to sign up via Eventbrite or call to schedule an appointment. However, individuals are asked to show up at the same time they received the first dose, unless other arrangements are made, Menchhofer said.

When it comes time to get the second dose, the individual will need to bring the card they received when they had their first dose. It will serve as their "ticket," Menchhofer said, and prove that they received the first dose. The card also will note which brand the person received.

The second dose clinic will usually be the same as the first one, Menchhofer said.

"In other words, when people receive the vaccine during a small clinic in our building, they are asked to return to the same place at the same time on the appropriate date for their second dose," he said.

The health district has received two shipments of the Moderna vaccine, which corresponds with the first two first-dose shipments they received.

Considering the number of doses the health district receives each week, Menchhofer said he suspects the health district will continue to receive vaccines from a single manufacturer each week.

There is the possibility that shipments could go back and forth between Moderna and Pfizer, he continued, but the health district will know more details over the next few weeks.

If a person's first dose of vaccine was Pfizer, their second dose will be given in a clinic three weeks after the first dose. For Moderna recipients, they'll receive the second dose in a clinic four weeks after the first dose.

Starting this week, people age 75 and older and people with intellectual or developmental disabilities who also have severe congenital, developmental or early-onset medical disorders will be eligible to be vaccinated.

The week of Feb. 1, Ohioans 70 and older and people who work in schools can be vaccinated, and Ohioans 65 and older can be vaccinated the week of Feb. 8, according to the state's Phase 1B vaccination plan.

People with severe congenital, developmental or early-onset medical disorders who do not have an intellectual or developmental disability will be eligible to be vaccinated the week of Feb. 15.

People in each age group will become eligible to receive the vaccine in the dates listed above, regardless of whether everyone in the previous age group has been vaccinated, according to the state's vaccination plan.

Due to the limited supply of doses, it will take weeks to vaccinate everyone in Phase 1B.