Calhoun County Pauses Use of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
COVID-19 vaccinations will still be offered at a walk-in clinic today at Albion College, but it won’t be the single shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The Calhoun County Public Health Department (CCPHD) has paused the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine based on the Food and Drug Administration s and CDC s recommendation.
Officials say they’ll be using the Pfizer vaccine during today s (April 13
th) Albion Clinic at Albion College’s Dow Center. The department says they won’t use the Johnson and Johnson vaccine until further information is available.
The Calhoun County Health Department continues to give vaccinations and Health Officer Eric Pessell said Monday they expect to give between 2,500-3,000 shots again this week. But Pessell cautions that the COVID-19 stats in the county have not been encouraging in the past couple of weeks.
“We are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases,” said Pessell. “I know last week we were being cautiously optimistic, but by the end of the week, it was pretty clear that we re seeing things going in the wrong direction. And we re seeing our hospitalization numbers go up as well.” As of Friday, March 12
th, there were 8,714 confirmed cases, 397 hospitalizations, 220 deaths and currently 18 persons in the hospital.
Calhoun County Needs More Vaccine
Calhoun County is gearing up vaccinations of school personnel this week, but the problem is that we’re not getting enough of the vaccine.
Calhoun County Health Department officer Eric Pessell was on the 95.3 WBCK Morning Show with Tim Collins, who joked that storing the vaccine could be done this week by putting it outside in the snowbank. But Pessell reminded listeners that that wouldn’t even be anywhere close to cold enough. “No, it s gotta be minus 96 Fahrenheit to store the Pfizer vaccine”, said Pessell. He said the Moderna vaccine can be stored at a warmer temperature. “I believe it s 20 minus Fahrenheit, so you still couldn t throw it out in a snowbank.”