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Essential worker vaccines to possibly start Feb. 1

COVID-19 vaccines for essential workers are coming, and it is estimated the earliest they will be given is Feb. 1.

Marshall County Public Health Nurse Pat Thompson has been asking businesses to prioritize employees.

“They need to determine who the essential workers are, how many want it and who is vulnerable,” she said. “People need to be prioritized so they can get the vaccines first.”

Thompson is also working on figuring out which industries or businesses will be first in line.

“We are working on prioritizing that – school districts, manufacturing – it has not been fully determined yet because we don’t know how much of the vaccine we are getting,” she said.

However, people can rest assured they will get inoculated. Thompson said it will just take time, especially since the amount of vaccinations to arrive is unknown and it is likely the first shipment will not be enough to cover everybody.

Thompson is estimating when the vaccine shipments begin, they will be sent weekly.

Since the Moderna vaccine arrived a couple days before Christmas, she said everyone has done a great job in vaccinating healthcare workers, and believes the county public health department is getting to the end of the healthcare sector. Until that happens, no one else will get the vaccine.

Long-term residents have been receiving the vaccine courtesy of a federal government effort, rather than the county. Thompson said she has not worked with the long-term care facilities, such as the Iowa Veterans Home, Glenwood Place and The Willows, to distribute the vaccine.

In the meantime, Thompson is asking everyone to continue practicing the pandemic recommendations – wearing face masks, social distancing, frequent hand washing and staying home if ill.

“The vaccine is not here yet, but it will be,” Thompson said. “We are determining the best way to get it to you. I know it doesn’t seem like we are doing much, but we are. We will get it to you.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.

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