Coronavirus

Mercer County opens vaccine clinics to Phase 2B early to fill open appointments

CELINA — Mercer County started administering the COVID-19 vaccine to people who are at least 50 years old and those with type 2 diabetes, or end stage renal disease a day ahead of Ohio’s schedule for phase 2B.

Mercer County Health District Administrator Jason Menchhoffer says there’s a couple reasons why the county opened up vaccines to people in that category a day ahead of schedule.

“We have seen a little bit of decline in the demand for appointments,” Menchhofer said. “Here where we’ve been having a little more of a challenge getting all of our appointments filled.”

Earlier this week he said he faced a decision because there were several open slots for appointments for the 400 doses they were set to administer at the clinic at the fairgrounds Wednesday.

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He was weighing a balance between the minimum age requirement and the state mandate that the department use the vaccine within seven days of receiving it.

“Err on the side of putting more vaccine in more people’s arms at an earlier time and that’s why we’ve gone a day early,” Menchhofer said.

Mercer County was also the county with the highest rate of infection in the state late in 2020. Now the county has one of the lowest rates of infection in the entire state.

“I think there are multiple contributing factors to that,” Menchhofer said.

One of those factors, “a lot of people have been vaccinated both by us and by other providers so I think that’s probably contributing as well.”

Mercer County has vaccinated more than 67% of its population aged 80 and up. It’s also administered the vaccine to more than 70% of the 75-79 year old population. Both higher than the statewide figures for those age groups, 66% of 80+ and 63% for 75-79 as of March 10th.

“So that tells me that we’ve got a pretty typical demand for the vaccine so far here in Mercer County,” Menchhofer said.

The clinics will continue to run on Wednesdays and Fridays for the foreseeable future. Typically Wednesday will be for those getting their first shot and Friday is for the people getting their second dose.

All of the vaccines are given out by appointment only. Information and links for appointments can be found at the Mercer County Health District’s website https://mchdohio.org/.

James Rider

James Rider

I was born in Virginia and have moved several times in my life as a member of an Air Force family. I've lived in Virginia, California, Germany, England, and Ohio. I graduated from Centerville High School and then went on to attend Ball State University where I graduated with a bachelor's degree.

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