Clark Fork Hospital provides COVID-19 vaccine update

To date we have administered 880 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

All phase 1a (health care workers) have received 2 doses. In addition, we have administered the first dose to 440 phase 1b individuals (those over 70 years age and 18-69 with certain health problems).

That is every dose we have received through last week. We are planning our next Covid-19 Vaccine Clinic for Feb. 20 and anticipate we will administer 500 vaccines, if we receive our anticipated allotment.

The initial indication from the state was Sanders County could receive about 180 weekly vaccines if the state receives 13,500. That includes both us and the public health department, so one week we received half that number and the health department the other half.

As I have indicated previously, we are working to get the vaccines administered as quickly as possible. If you have completed our Covid-19 Vaccination Interest Survey (available at www.cfvh.org), or it was completed for you, please be patient.

We will get you vaccinated as quickly as possible. You do not need to call again, or be concerned that you were somehow missed. We do not attempt to stratify inside each phase (1a, 1b, 1c), so you may have a friend that has been scheduled, and wonder why you have not received a call.

We work through our list until we have enough to use all the doses we know we will have, and we do not schedule until we are confident we will have the vaccine to administer.

The fact that we have had over 1,100 phase 1b responses to the survey indicates it will take a few weeks yet just to reach those, unless the state is able to increase our allotment.

After that we can start working with phase 1c individuals.

Hospital staff are grateful to see the community so positive about the vaccine.

After months of seeing individuals seriously ill with the infection, and the heavy strain placed on the staff to care for patients during the pandemic, it is good to see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel.”

It is still a long tunnel, but it is encouraging to see the positive direction things are moving.

Thank you for doing your part, and for being patient as we work to immunize you as quickly as possible given the limitations.

Gregory S. Hanson, MD President/CEO Clark Fork Valley Hospital