The registration of COVID-19 vaccine for residents 65 years and older has been suspended in Marion County.
The Marion County Department of Health has temporarily closed registration for the vaccine due to reports exceeding the department’s initial limit of 50,000 registrations.
“We are limiting the number of people included in this first round of applications so that staff can work through the current list of registered individuals and be fully vaccinated,” said Marion County Administrator Mark Lander. “We will reopen the registration once the first group of 50,000 registrants has completed their vaccinations.”
DOH-Marion’s schedulers call registrants in the order in which their applications were received. After schedulers complete a telephone screening with registrants, they will schedule a vaccination appointment. Due to the number of people who have registered, it will take several weeks to work through the list of registrants and plan appointments. The department’s first appointments are Tuesday, January 5th.
The health department will be vaccinating with both the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks. These vaccines are both two doses. Modern requires 28 days between the first and second shot. Pfizer requires 21 days between the first and second shot.
DOH-Marion telephone lines experience congestion
The department is still experiencing a large number of phone calls, leading to people receiving messages that the department’s phone numbers are not working. Because the telephone lines are jammed, staff also experience problems with the call from the facility, and calls are dropped. People who have signed up for a COVID-19 vaccination and have not yet received a call are requested not to call the department to see where they are on the list or when they will receive a vaccination.
“People who have signed up for the system will call back after the vaccine is available and a time and place has been set to receive it,” Lander said. ‘Please know that we are not sitting on any vaccine here. Once vaccination opportunities are available, we plan the vaccinations.