Peoria, IL, USA 104.9 The Wolf
1470-100.3 WMBD/Kristina Leahy
PEORIA, Ill. Area health officials continually emphasized patience regarding COVID-19 vaccinations during the Peoria City/County Health Department’s weekly COVID-19 news conference on Thursday.
“The keys for vaccination at UnityPoint Health is number one, we are going to call you,” said Dr. Samer Sader, Chief Medical Officer at UnityPoint Health. “Wait for our phone call when we call you.
“If you miss it, just call us back. We will get you on the line to get vaccinated. The supply of vaccine is short, so don’t come if we don’t call you. It’s not an open window or a walk-in clinic.”
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
By the end of this week, the first few thousand residents of Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties in the 1B group will have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Local health departments are allocating their vaccine shipments to OSF HealthCare, UnityPoint Health, and Heartland Health Services for wider distribution to the 1B population.
That population is a large group, and the process will take quite a while, said Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson. With the amount of allocation that we re getting, which is limited, if we as a Tri-County see anywhere between three and four thousand vaccines coming into our counties each week, it will take us over eight weeks to vaccinate that population, she said. So the short answer is, we need patience during this time.
PEORIA COVID-19 vaccinations began this week for folks in the 1B category, and a large number of area seniors has been lucky enough to get the call.
Last week, when area health officials announced a don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you policy for vaccinations, it was disconcerting news for many residents. After all, how would health officials know who to get hold of and how to reach them?
But as the system was put into action this week, a number of people were happy to see that it is working.
“It was like a phone call out of the blue,” said 75-year-old Peoria resident Pat Goitein on Wednesday. “They called on Monday, and within 24 hours I was vaccinated.”
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