Distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine will begin to expand in Olmsted County

The Minnesota Department of Health is coordinating the release and distribution of the vaccine and making sure that the first group, which includes health professionals who deal directly with COVID-19 patients, emergency and emergency care staff and long-term care unit all team members have access to the vaccine first.

The second group of health professionals receiving vaccines includes health care workers, dialysis staff, ophthalmologists, dental staff, school nurses and other medical personnel not included in the first group.

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After that, essential workers such as police, firefighters and teachers, as well as people aged 75 and over, will have access to the vaccine.

Getting through the first two groups presents a challenge, said Amy Evans, Olmsted County Public Health emergency preparedness coordinator.

Some organizations and groups may require a vaccination clinic or coordination with a pharmacy to vaccinate employees or staff.

“Are we vaccinating 10 people or are we vaccinating 200 people?” Evans said. “It will help us decide which method to deploy.”

On Thursday, 7,193 people in Olmsted County and 91,174 people across the state received the vaccine.

However, vaccinations depend on how quickly vaccines are delivered, Evans added. The large number of health professionals adds another challenge to the process.

“At the moment, our biggest challenge in our region is still to wait for the vaccines to give them,” she said.

Evans said public health finished administering the vaccines to the EMS team this week. This does not mean that all EMS employees accepted the vaccination or were able to be vaccinated, but that all EMS employees in the county were offered or had access to the vaccine, she clarified.

County public health officials said they were unsure how many people who had access to the vaccine refused it.

Kari Etrheim, Olmsted County Public Health Communications Coordinator, said that department leaders at the Mayo Clinic report high cooperation among their employees.

“They are seeing a 100% fill rate and very little hesitation in filling those spaces,” she said.

Although top priority health workers are still being vaccinated, efforts to vaccinate the second group have begun, Evans confirmed on Thursday.

“There is definitely an overlap,” she said. “There is no hard, fast black line.”