Thousands of vaccines to be administered in Norman
Mar. 7—Thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations are set to be given out in Norman this week as the Cleveland County Health Department will host three clinics next week in addition to the shots being administered at a local Walmart.
The county health department will host its usual vaccine clinic at Sooner Mall in Norman on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and hopes to vaccinate about 1,800 per day, spokesperson Sara King said.
Although the Oklahoma State Department of Health announced on Friday that starting on Monday they would be expanding eligibility to include all of Phase 2, King said that these upcoming appointments will more than likely just be the previous eligibility groups (ie. teachers, people 65 and older and those with comorbidities).
"Because of when we opened up appointments compared to when they made the announcement about eligibility opening up, the appointments for this upcoming week are going to likely still be in that 65 plus, comorbidities and educator realm," King said.
As for the one dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, King said that once they begin receiving that specific vaccine they will begin using it in some of their more "congregate" care areas.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine received emergency use authorization over a week ago and is a one dose vaccine as opposed to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines which require two doses approximately two weeks apart.
"From my understanding, so far, Johnson & Johnson — because it's been a limited inventory — is first going to hospitals to use for people who are coming into their clinics or their emergency room who are going to have a hard time coming back for a second dose," King said. "But then for us, when we start to see more of an influx of it, we're definitely looking at ... trying to resource some of our partner agencies who are serving more of a transient population or for people experiencing homelessness."
To register for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic visit the state health department's portal at vaccinate.oklahoma.gov.
The Walmart Neighborhood Market off of Rock Creek Road will also begin administering the COVID-19 vaccine this week.
"We have two goals as we administer vaccines: first, to reach as many people as possible to enable reopening efforts, and second, to ensure equitable vaccine distribution across the communities we serve. We have focused most of our events in medically underserved neighborhoods, and we are proud to play a part in increasing access to the vaccine in these communities," Dr. Cheryl Pegus, Walmart's executive vice president of health & wellness, said in a press release on Feb. 25. "We will continue to engage within our communities to find new ways to reach additional customers with our vaccination programs as we work towards the eventual end of the pandemic."
People can register for future Walmart vaccination clinics on Walmart's website. To register for text alerts about vaccine clinics and availability in a specific area or throughout the state visit vaccine-alerts.com.
Reese Gorman covers COVID-19, local politics and elections for The Transcript; reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.
