Hamilton County is introducing a new way to get a COVID-19 vaccine — one that doesn’t rely on navigating website after website.
The county’s public health department will hold its first walk-up vaccination clinic Thursday, April 15, at the Board of Elections office, 4700 Smith Road., Norwood. No appointments are needed.
During a briefing Wednesday, Alicia Reece, vice president of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners, said that the event will provide opportunities for more people to get a vaccine.
“One of the issues, the barriers, was some people having a technology issue in terms of registering. So now we’ll be able to pilot (this) and see how the walk-ups are,” Reece said. “It’s something that we have also been asking the governor to consider.”
The clinic, which runs 11 a.m.-5 p.m., will administer doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized for use by people age 16 and older. It requires two doses about 21 days apart.
“We’re really just working really hard to try different methods to keep people excited, to keep people engaged and to give different options for vaccine,” said Greg Kesterman, public health commissioner for Hamilton County. “Throughout this pandemic, if someone wanted to get vaccinated, they’ve been forced to try 10 different websites three times a day to find an appointment.”
If the walk-up vaccination clinic proves to be a success, Hamilton County may repeat it in the future.
“We are going to see how tomorrow goes and make plans based on the outcome,” Kesterman said.
More than 300,000 Hamilton County residents have received at least one dose of the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Kesterman said.
He added that Hamilton County is now seeing about 98 COVID-19 cases per day, compared to a much more grim 716 cases per day at the county’s winter peak back on Dec. 10.
“It’s not where we need to be; we still have a lot of activity,” Kesterman said. “There are 3,200 active cases of COVID within our community, but this is a much better spot than where we were in December.”
Reece reported that Hamilton County has had 77,720 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, with 74,488 individuals presumed to be recovered. There have been 2,888 hospitalizations and 1,164 deaths.
Hamilton County is aiming to vaccinate 80% of its residents by July 4.
Learn more at hamiltoncountyhealth.org.
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2021.