Coronavirus: Greene County vaccine wait list about 20,000 people long, growing daily

Credit: Patrick Pleul

Credit: Patrick Pleul

A Greene County Public Health waiting list for people to be vaccinated against coronavirus is around 20,000 people, with hundreds signing up each day.

Public Health urged people to stay patient as they vaccinate people as quickly as possible, but noted that vaccine supplies are limited.

“We are focusing on getting our most vulnerable population vaccinated who are most at risk of severe illness should they get COVID-19,” said Health Commissioner Melissa Howell. “We want to remind everyone that vaccine is in very short supply at this time and vaccinating everyone in Phase 1B is going to take a lot of time. Patience is key.”

Greene County has more than 26,000 residents ages 65 and older who are not in congregate care facilities that were vaccinated under a federal partnership with area pharmacies.

Public Health is scheduling clinics each week based off the number of vaccines allocated from the state.

“At the end of each scheduled clinic, if there are vaccine doses left over, we will call additional people from our list who are eligible but may not have gotten a call for that day,” Howell said. “We will continue to call that list until we use up those last doses so they are not wasted.”

Due to the high demand of the vaccine, Public Health is also taking a lot of more calls. Staff is working to answer as many calls and questions as possible. Health officials are trying to call bac anyone who had to leave a voicemail in a timely manner.

Public Health is encouraging people to reach out to other providers in the area if they are on the agency’s wait list.

The Ohio Department of Health has list a of providers available here: https://vaccine.coronavirus.ohio.gov/. Other providers in Greene County include Discount Drug Mart, Kettering Health Network, Kroger and Walgreens.

To sign up for Public Health’s wait list, visit https://healthalert.gcph.info/covid19/signup. Public Health is calling residents in order based of registration date and eligible age group. Once you are registered, your name will stay on the wait list until Public Health calls you to come to a scheduled clinic. It could take weeks, pending vaccine availability, for Public Health to contact you.

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