CADIZ — Harrison County is hoping to begin inoculations of the COVID-19 vaccine for Phase 1B sometime next week.

The Harrison County Health Department along with the Harrison County Emergency Management Agency provided an update regarding Phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccination during Wednesday’s board of commissioners meeting.

Garen Rhome, administrator of the county’s health department, said the agency should receive delivery of its next round of vaccines early next week although the amount it will receive is unknown. Only a limited supply of the vaccine will be allocated to the county based on its population and targeted populations, he said.

“We anticipate that it won’t be enough to give all of the 80 years and older, interested and eligible parties access to the vaccine so that’s part of the limited supply,” he said.

Rhome provided a Phase 1B tentative timeline which includes eligibility schedules for those interested in receiving the vaccine. The first round of vaccines for Phase 1B will be given to those 80 years and older with a new priority population becoming available each week.

∫ The week of Jan. 19, ages 80 and older;

∫ The week of Jan. 25, ages 75 and older, and those with severe congenital, developmental or early onset medical disorders;

∫ The week of Feb. 1, ages 70 and older, and employees of K-12 schools that wish to remain or return to in person or hybrid learning;

– The week of Feb. 8, ages 65 and older.

Rhome said the county will begin its first round of Phase 1B innoculations through scheduled appointments sometime next week. The health department will soon begin contacting individuals listed through the data collection survey list to schedule these appointments.

“We’ve got a great response from the survey and we’ll be contacting them to tell them when and where they can receive the vaccine,” he said.

Rhome said they have already received approximately 200 survey respondents from eligible individuals who meet the requirements for the first round of Phase 1B – 80 years and older category.

“We’re using the survey and the limited number of vaccines to inform how that structure will work and how we will administer the vaccines,” he said.

Rhome urges residents who are interested in receiving the vaccine to complete the survey so the health department can schedule appointments when available. The survey can be found on the department’s website and Facebook page, or by visining www.surveymonkey.com/r/Harrison_Phase1B.