Summit County health officials say their new lottery system has made it much more efficient to sign-up for the COVID-19 vaccine. In this edition of “OH Really,” a listener asks about some confusing information about vaccinations.
Alan Jones and his wife live in Hudson. They’re both older than 65 and are looking to get vaccinated. Jones checked with their pharmacist.
"Her indication to me was that the only injections that were being given out—at this point, because of a limitation on the amount of injections available—were the second injections. And that was being done in order to avoid losing the benefit of the first injection,” he said.
In other words: all the injections coming to Summit County were being diverted to people who were waiting on their second dose. Summit County Public Health Commissioner Donna Skoda says that’s not the case.
“We have not stopped first doses, nor to my knowledge has anyone been instructed to stop first doses," she said. "When we receive our allocation, we receive both first and second doses for what we have already given. So, I don’t understand why they would say they couldn’t give first doses. To my knowledge, everyone including us is still scheduling first doses.”
Skoda says anyone having trouble getting signed up should contact the health department directly.
The state lowered eligibility for the vaccine to age 60 last week, just after Johnson & Johnson began shipping its new vaccine. President Joe Biden says there should be enough doses for every adult American by the end of May.
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