By James King
With COVID-19 vaccines still being distributed to health care workers in Tulsa, some Green Country counties are already opening up their doses to parts of the public. The vaccine is now available for public sign-up if you fall under the phase one or phase two categories.
The eight counties (Craig, Delaware, Mayes, Nowata, Ottawa, Rogers, Wagoner, Washington) in the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s District Four have extended the vaccine to the public aged 65 or older.
“I think it’s very fortunate that we were one of the first ones to get the rollout, and I know the entire state of Oklahoma will be glad when we’re all vaccinated,” said Albert Jones, Wagoner mayor.
You don’t have to be a resident in region four to sign up for the vaccine when more appointments come open because if they have the doses, they want to get it to as many people as they can.
“We did have some set-aside appointments that addressed phase one and first two tiers of phase two to make sure that they got the vaccine,” said Jessica Milberger, District Four regional public information officer. “We can’t wait and stop until every single person in a certain tier or certain phase has received the vaccine otherwise it’ll take years to get to everyone.”
The only place to sign up for the vaccines is on some of the counties’ Facebook pages as they post them on a first-come, first-serve basis. As of now, all of the appointments are completely booked. Milberger and the OSDH are asking for patience as they work out the best way to get the vaccine to the public.
“It really just is this process that we’re all trying to figure out,” said Milberger. “And we’re trying to get the information as quickly out to people.”
Milberger says that it’s a fluid situation as to when they’ll have more appointments available depending on when and how many doses they get from the state.
