The Superior Express -

South Heartland District Health Department (SHDHD) officials said the district will start offering COVID-19 vaccine to priority age groups in Phase 1B as soon as vaccine is available.

Michele Bever, SHDHD executive director, said this phase of vaccine roll-out will incorporate assistance from certain health care provider offices. “Within South Heartland’s four counties, we hope to have a total of 14 provider facilities approved by the DHHS Immunization Program to help administer COVID-19 vaccine to individuals age 65+ and adults with high-risk medical conditions,” she said.

Bever said individuals who live in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls or Webster counties and want to get the vaccine should register on SHDHD’s website http://www.southheartlandhealth.org. Because the amount of vaccine coming to SHDHD is still limited, the district will focus first on individuals age 90+ and gradually expand down to other age groups as vaccine becomes available.

“Registering to get the vaccine is easy,” Bever said, “Just follow four steps,” Visit SHDHD’s website http://www.southheartlandhealth.org . Click on the red banner at the top of the page where it says, “Click Here for more information on registering your interest in getting the COVID-19 vaccine.” This will take you to SHDHD’s vaccine information page where there is up-to-date information about COVID vaccines and vaccine distribution.

Click on the picture of the vaccine to start the registration survey.

Complete the registration questions, then click on the arrow to submit. You will be directed back to the vaccine information page where you can find more links and resources about the vaccine.

Bever said the benefit of registering is that individuals on the SHDHD list will be notified when they are eligible to schedule an appointment at their health care provider office or at one of the vaccine clinics. Individuals on the list will be added automatically to the state vaccination registration system (called VRAS), once it is launched later this month. When that happens, registered individuals will be notified through VRAS when they are eligible to schedule an appointment, and the SHDHD registration system will be phased out.

“The rate we are able to move through these priority age groups depends on how much vaccine we receive each week and how many in each priority group want the vaccine. This week we are expecting 600 doses of vaccine. The census tells us there are about 8,000 residents in our district age 65+, which means if everyone ages 65 and over wants the vaccine, it will take 13 weeks to receive enough vaccine for this priority group alone,” Bever said

While waiting their turn for the vaccine, Bever encouraged residents to continue practicing the 3Cs: avoid crowded spaces, avoid close contact and avoid confined spaces. “We will need to use ALL the tools we have, including the vaccine, to help stop the pandemic.”

SHDHD also reported 51 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in four days (Jan. 20 – 23), averaging 12.75 new cases per day and bringing the cumulative number of cases in the four-county health district to 4,211. The new confirmed cases for the four-day period include: 24 in Adams, 10 in Clay, 10 in Nuckolls and 7 in Webster. By county, the new cumulative totals are: 2,761 cases in Adams, 681 cases in Clay, 443 cases in Nuckolls, and 326 cases in Webster.

Weekly positivity for the health district decreased to 8.9 percent compared to 10.3 percent the week before. By county, the positivity was 10.2 percent in Adams, 5.9 percent in Clay, 10.3 percent in Nuckolls, and 6.1 percent in Webster. “This continues to be a trend in the right direction,” she said.

More vaccine information and updates can be found on SHDHD’s COVID-19 vaccine webpage .