Sanitizing her corded desk phone after four hours of scheduling COVID-19 vaccine appointments, Virginia Faulkner-Monks said she felt a bit like St. Nick.
âIt feels kind of like youâre Santa,â she said. âYouâre really making somebodyâs day whoâs been very anxious.â
Faulkner-Monks, 27, was one of the volunteers answering phones and making calls Monday at the Teton County Health Departmentâs vaccine call center. The center answers peopleâs questions about getting a vaccine, registers eligible Teton County residents for shots and, when itâs their turn, calls to schedule appointments. Itâs intended for people in the age-based vaccine priority groups the countyâs working through now. Others in employment-based subgroups like teachers and public transit employees will be vaccinated later in Phase 1b and register to receive the vaccine through their employers. Mary Grossman, the call centerâs founding employee, described
Wyoming has announced changes to its vaccination priority groups, but that doesnât mean it has magically uncovered new vaccine doses.
Last week, the Wyoming Department of Health updated its 1b groupings, offering concurrent vaccination for vulnerable populations and some essential workers. It also released the 1c categories, which include other groupings of essential industries, the homeless and people living in a variety of congregate situations.
âEven though we may have some updates with those phases, thatâs not going to make more vaccine suddenly available in large quantities,â state Health Department spokeswoman Kim Deti said last week.
Locally, people between 65 and 69 will start being vaccinated around mid-February alongside behavioral health care and social workers. In March, teachers and staff at the countyâs schools, both public and private, will be up.
Los mayores de 80 años serán los siguientes para la vacuna COVID-19 jhnewsandguide.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jhnewsandguide.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Teton County residents who are 80 or older will soon be able to get in a queue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, though shots for that population wonât be administered for some time.
Rachael Wheeler, public health response coordinator for the Teton County Health Department, told the Jackson Hole Daily that the county has the go-ahead to move into the next phase of vaccination. Once the department moves through two higher-tier, employment-based priority subgroups â first responders not vaccinated in the first round, and then funeral home workers â it will move on to older folks, starting with those age 80 and up, and, once that group receives its first dose of the vaccine, to those 70 and older.