The only wait for a group of Reno County residents getting their COVID-19 vaccinations at a community clinic at the Hutchinson Sports Arena on Friday morning was after getting their shot.
That’s because they had to sit in the arena bleachers for at least 15 minutes to watch for reactions from the shot.
In fact, some residents anticipating waits who showed up early were whisked on through and were out before their scheduled appointment time.
The county’s first point of distribution or POD vaccination effort appeared to be going off without a hitch, with lots of workers, volunteers and shot recipients praising the effort and smiling behind their masks.
Mass vaccination a shift in local COVID response effort
Residents wanting the vaccine should register, local providers now say
Hutchinson residents age 65 and older who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine should register at a link created by the Reno County Health Department.
That’s a change in the message from local primary care providers who previously said there was not a need to register because medical record systems at their facilities would identify those who qualify first and they would be contacted.
The change is a result of the Reno County Health Department shifting the local vaccination effort toward a “Point of Dispensing” or POD process, rather than distributing vaccine through individual health care providers.
Posted By: chrismaslen January 27, 2021 @ 6:45 am Coronavirus (Covid-19), Local News, News
The Reno County Health Department announced the launch of an online pre-registration site for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Reno County is presently in Phase II of the county’s vaccination plan; serving residents aged 65 years and older. Individuals who fall under this demographic can pre-register on the website and will be contacted as soon as a vaccination appointment becomes available.
The website is
not an appointment system. Those who register on the website will be contacted by the Reno County Health Department to schedule their appointment.
Residents aged 65 and older can visit www.RenoGov.org to register now. You can also call 844-834-3657 and leave a message if access to the website is unavailable.
Reno County Health officials announced plans Thursday to begin administering 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine received on Wednesday to elderly residents identified by local medical providers as at the highest risk.
The shots, making up the first round of vaccinations under Phase 2 of the state’s distribution plan, will occur along with continued administration of the second doses to healthcare workers under phase 1.
Health officials, meanwhile, now plan to announce next week how the public can register online for a future vaccine appointment.
The Reno County Health Department, Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, Hutchinson Clinic, and Prairie Star Health Center are working together on the distribution as the “Reno County Medical Collaborative,” according to a county news release.
Hospitalizations from the virus, however, continued to drop, reaching their lowest number in months.
Meanwhile, on the vaccine front health officials said they don’t expect vaccines to be available for administration to high-risk individuals in the general public until late February or early March, and they are working on developing various distribution plans.
Mostly positive news
On Tuesday morning, there were only eight patients in Hutchinson Regional Medical Center with confirmed COVID-19, said HRMC vice president Chuck Welch, including one person on a ventilator.
That compared to 18 people in the hospital with the virus on Jan. 6, and 41 on Dec. 4, when local COVID-19 hospitalizations peaked.