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Harrison County COVID vaccine clinic set for Friday

T-L File Photo Garen Rhome, administrator of the Harrison County Health Department, shown at left in this file photo, speaks with Commissioners Dale Norris and Paul Coffland.

CADIZ — More than 10 percent of Harrison County residents have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with hundreds of additional Phase 1B residents expected to receive it in the coming weeks.

Harrison County Health Department Administrator Garen Rhome said more than 1,500 county residents have received the first dose of the vaccine and around 300 residents have received their second dose.

“We’ve gone over 10 percent of the county population who have received the first dose,” he said.

Rhome gave his weekly update regarding the coronavirus during Wednesday’s Harrison County Board of Commissioners’ meeting.

A vaccination clinic is set for Friday in which around 120 vaccines will be administered to residents aged 70-74. Although the state opens up the vaccine this week to residents aged 65-69, the county will continue vaccinations for those in the 70-74 age group.

“Due to our continued limited allotment for the Phase 1B age groups, and thanks to the wonderful response from our community to get on our wait list, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to move into that 65-69 age group this week,” he said.

Rhome said the 70-74 age group is a very large group in the county. Following this week’s clinic, around 250 residents in that age group who have registered to receive the vaccine will be left on the department’s call list.

“We’ve had a lot of responses to the survey in that age group,” he said.

Rhome said he is hoping to open the clinics up to residents age 65-69 in the coming weeks. The clinics remain by appointment only. The health department will call residents who have registered through the online survey and provide them with a designated time, date and location to receive the vaccine.

Harrison County will also administer second doses to more than 200 residents aged 80 and older during Friday’s clinic. Those residents received their first dose on Jan. 22. The Pfizer vaccine requires second doses to be administered 21 days after the first inoculation, while the in-between time for the Moderna vaccine dose is 28 days, Rhome said.

The health department plans to hold the clinic regardless of any inclement weather.

“We’ll be there regardless of the weather,” Rhome said. “We want to encourage people to be safe … we encourage people to help each other out with travel.”

Rhome said the county is averaging less than four new COVID-19 cases per day. But while the cases are declining, he said it’s important to continue the mitigation efforts.

“We don’t want to let up these efforts — social distancing, smaller gatherings, mask wearing and hand washing. … We want to keep up these efforts, not let up and we’ll get through this sooner,” he said.

The county announced its 18th COVID-19 related death Monday — an individual in their 80s. As of Wednesday, the county has a total of 970 cases, 887 presumed recoveries and 18 deaths. There are a total of 65 active cases in the county.

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