SUMMIT COUNTY, OH—On January 19th, 2021, vaccination Phase 1B distribution for individuals age 80+ will begin, in accordance with Governor DeWine’s distribution timeline and directive. Summit County will be receiving 5,750 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the first portion of Phase 1B distribution.
The Governor has set an aggressive vaccination timeline in an ongoing effort to provide much needed vaccines. The State will be launching an interactive list on January 14th that will display providers that received vaccine doses. Summit County continues to use all resources to advocate at the State and Federal level to receive as many vaccines as possible for its residents. In the meantime, it is imperative to remain vigilant, and continue to follow health and safety protocols such as hand washing, mask wearing, quarantining if sick or exposed to COVID-19, avoiding large groups and limiting social contact in order to help stop the spread.
Summit County’s Emergency Management Agency and Summit County Public Health continue to work in conjunction with hospitals, health care providers and first responders on vaccine distribution planning, community health protocols, PPE distribution, and life-saving mitigation measures. The common goal of all partners is to keep Summit County residents healthy and reduce the spread of the virus. It is the hope that in the coming months there will be an increased number of vaccinations for Summit County to distribute.
Summit County Public Health (SCPH) has been the lead partner in the fight against COVID-19 since February 2020 and has been providing weekly COVID-19 reports and statistics to the community in a robust and tireless effort to administer accurate information and health protocols to the public. The COVID-19 informational dashboard can be found on their website: https://www.scph.org/, and continuous reports and statistics are also shared on SCPH’s social media. Summit County Public Health will continue to lead vaccine information dissemination.
SCPH has a vaccine information registry located at https://www.scph.org/covid/vaccine where residents can register to receive information for scheduling appointments through SCPH. On Tuesday January 19, 2021 residents who are 80+ and have signed up for the registry will receive an email with specific instructions on when the clinic will take place and how to schedule an appointment to receive a vaccine. SCPH will have a limited supply of vaccine so appointments will be on a first come first serve basis. This is a confusing time for many of our 80+ residents and it is a priority to assure that residents are notified of the vaccination clinic specifics on Tuesday the 21st. All residents 80+ who register on the vaccine registry should make sure to check their email for additional information on Tuesday January 21st. The vaccination clinic will be a drive thru process and will be held at SCPH located at 1867 West Market St., Akron Ohio. The date and time of the vaccination clinic are yet to be determined due to not knowing when the shipment of vaccine will arrive. There will be other providers across Summit County who will also be vaccinating the 80+ population. These providers include pharmacies, hospitals and federally qualified health centers. SCPH will post a list of these providers who will be receiving vaccine for the 80 + population at https://www.scph.org/covid/vaccine as the information becomes available. Residents should check with each site to see how they will be distributing vaccine.
Summit County’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) continues to support Public Health, the hospitals, and first responders in the COVID-19 response and mitigation effort. In addition to its PPE distribution effort that has provided over 620 county entities with essential State-allocated PPE, the Summit County EMA organizes a weekly zoom meeting between the COVID-19 response stakeholders which serves as a platform to share vital information, statistics, planning, preparedness and vaccination distribution strategy.
The Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine will be used for the Phase 1B distribution. The Moderna vaccine has shown to be 94.1% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease and is a two-dose vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95% and is also a two-dose vaccine. Both vaccines have also shown to decrease the severity of the disease in individuals who do catch the virus. It is important to note that the vaccines were shown to have equal effectiveness amongst all ethnicity categories, genders and ages in clinical trials. Side effects have been mostly minimal, including headache, soreness at the injection site and/or muscle soreness and joint pain.
Residents should contact the SCPH COVID Call Center at 330-926-5795 with questions.
For additional vaccine facts, safety, side effects and information, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/8-things.html.
