Summit County Health officials say they’ve got a vaccine distribution system set up and have been dispensing shots for the past two weeks.
But Health Director Rich Bullough says they’re also scrambling to adapt and deal with obstacles, given that they haven’t received as many doses as they had hoped.
And the county says that the Utah Film Studio—and this summer, Richardson Flat—will play important roles in the vaccine distribution story.
Bullough told Monday’s meeting of the Board of Health that the vaccine situation is continually evolving.
“We’re in fully-ramped-up-execute mode right now. The Emergency Operations Center is fully operational. It is resourcing the point of distribution, both on the logistics side and a clinical side. We have in place the personnel that we need to manage this thing. Two weeks ago, we began the process of actually administering vaccines. So I wanna just kinda set the stage. We’ve had multiple successful vaccination clinics at the Health Department. Those were used as training opportunities, basically as a real table-top exercise. They were very successful, well-organized, and we’ve got people in the pipeline now—people waiting or beginning to get close to a second vaccination in a couple of weeks.”
Bullough and County Nursing Director Derek Moss, who’s leading the clinic effort, said the county has received a total of 700 doses so far. Bullough said they wished they could have received more in last week’s shipment.
“We received 200. And so we’re dipping into that little bit of a surplus that we got earlier. Our plan is to try to maintain a small number of vaccines, to allow for glitches in delivery and shipment that will facilitate or help us not have to cancel or pull back on clinics. The general anticipated days of increase, when we’ll be receiving more vaccines—somewhere in the ballpark of January 17th to 24th. That’s when the number of vaccines delivered to hospitals will begin to decrease, because they will have hit their primary target population.”
Moss said they will probably vaccinate over 300 people this week, and they’ve already scheduled 225 appointments. He said local citizens are enthusiastic about the vaccines.
They’re the Moderna vaccine, which currently requires two doses, about 28 days apart.
Hospitals and their health workers have received vaccine doses directly from the state.
Moss was asked what priority groups have been set for the vaccines.
“The majority of this wave right now is actually non-hospital health-care workers—so our community clinics, dentists, orthodontists, physical therapists, pharmacists, those who aren’t associated with IHC or the University of Utah who take care of their own folks, comprise the majority of this wave actually—followed by teachers and First Responders.”
He said that recipients over 75 years old are the next priority group.
Moss said this week they’re also giving doses to 60 recipients at a nursing home, due to an unexpected problem. Long-term-care facilities are supposed to be handled by two private entities that contracted for federal funding. But Moss and Bullough said this home hasn’t been able to contact a private firm, so the county will distribute doses there this week rather than wait.
Bullough also had an important message for some members of priority groups who are passing up the chance for vaccinations. He said once the deadline passes for a certain priority sector, a person in that group doesn’t get a chance for a dose until the vaccines are available for the mainstream population later this year.
Meanwhile, Bullough said that the Utah Film Studio near Quinn’s Junction is beginning operations this week as a distribution pod. He said it will use drive-through lanes, and is invitation only, based on the current priority groups.
He said the facility will probably be used into February.
Later on, Bullough said they’re planning to use Richardson Flat as a mass vaccination site, possibly operational starting in March, April or May. He said it will be a tent city, with several drive-through lanes, and Bullough said it could dispense over 1000 doses a day.
