KINGWOOD – The Preston County Health Department has no control over how much COVID vaccine it receives and, at the current rate, could still be vaccinating people in November.
Preston Health Department Administrator V.J. Davis passed that information along to the Preston County Commission at its meeting Tuesday.
“There’s estimates that if we continue to get the vaccine at the rate we’re getting it now, we could be giving vaccines all the way through November,” Davis said.
This week, the Preston Health Department didn’t get any vaccine but was a allotted some spots in the regional vaccination clinic at Morgantown.
The state asked all counties that do not have regional vaccination sites to plan for one. Davis said Preston already has those plans in place.
“The way I understand it is if more vaccine becomes available from the federal government they will start trickling it into individual counties,” he said. “But right now the supply to the state is so limited they feel these regional clinics are the most effective way to do this. And I want to stress to people that the Preston County Health Department has zero control over that.”
The department has stopped taking the names of additional people who want the vaccine until it clears some of the more than 500 people already on the list. The department is working with Global Science and Technology to set up a system that will automatically put the names of callers into a spread sheet.
Davis said the precautions being taken with administering the coronavirus vaccine are no different than those taken with any vaccine. That includes suggesting that people who have had a severe reaction to a vaccine in the past have their shot administered at the hospital, so help is near if there is a reaction, and not taking the vaccine within 14 days of any other vaccine.
At this point no one knows how long the vaccines will provide immunity from COVID, Davis said. They do know surviving a bout with the virus doesn’t guarantee immunity. Already in Preston County there have been instances of people testing positive three months and six months later, he noted.
County Administrator Kathy Mace said she believes all county workers over 50 who wanted the vaccine received it. Some chose not to get it, she said. Under the governor’s Continuity of Government ruling, the county worked with pharmacies to get the vaccinations.
“We pray that that will help with our continuity of government. We’ve had to close a couple times when we had staffing shortages and hope the vaccinations will help us out,” Mace said.
Commissioners also:
- reappointed Lucas Tatham to the board of Public Service District No. 1, for a term that expires Jan. 31, 2027.
- agreed to issue a payment of $24,858.90 to Action Construction LLC for work being done on the animal shelter.
- tentatively set a work session with other county elected officials for Feb. 9.
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