All spots taken for JCHC vaccine clinic Thursday

Jefferson County Health Center in Fairfield announced Tuesday morning that all of its spots for its COVID-19 vaccine clinic for Thursday have been filled.

The health center is hosting a clinic from 4:30-6:40 p.m. that day for residents getting their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ian Bee, community relations manager at JCHC, remarked, “We were shocked at how quickly it filled up.”

Bee said the health center is also changing how it handles clinic scheduling. For a few months until just this past week, the health center called patients on a waiting list to schedule their vaccine appointment. It did this by going through a list of people aged 65 and older, and those with preexisting health conditions that made them eligible to receive a vaccine.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that, beginning Monday, April 5, anyone over the age of 18 is eligible to receive the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and anyone over the age of 16 is eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine.

Bee said that, because so many more people are eligible for the vaccine, the health center will no longer call residents to have them sign up. Instead, residents must take that responsibility on for themselves. Those who wish to get a vaccine at JCHC should call its hotline at 641-469-4180.

Vaccine distributions vary from week-to-week, and appointments are scheduled as calls are received. Appointments will be available on a first-come, first-served basis until they are filled for the week. If you call JCHC for an appointment and all available slots are filled, the health center encourages you to call the following week.

Bee said the health center has usually been holding its clinics on Thursdays, though not every Thursday since it doesn’t get a shipment of vaccines every week, and the number of vaccines varies between 50-100. The Thursday clinic is in the early evening, but Bee said the health center alters the time of its clinics to accommodate different schedules, so some clinics will be in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening.

Members of the public who sign up to receive the first dose of the vaccine will automatically be scheduled to receive their second dose four weeks later. If that is a problem, let the staff at the health center know at the time you make your appointment.