Hill County COVID-19 vaccinations moving forward

Hill County Board of Health at its COVID-19 update Friday decided to change its meeting times for the pandemic update to every other Friday.

The next meeting will be Feb. 12. 

“Hill County has had 1,802 cases of COVID-19, there are currently 17 active cases, which is exciting for us locally to see that still dropping. We are following 18 people who are currently quarantined at this time,” Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Larson said Friday.

In its update Sunday evening, Hill County Health Department reported 24 active cases, up from Friday. The report listed three new confirmed cases Sunday.

Havre Public Schools has been back to school for two weeks, Larson said. So far, there has not been a rise in cases from the students and staff going back to school. 

Vaccinations are being given in Hill County, she said. As of Friday, 1,651 doses have been given with 202 second doses given.

Those people who have received the second dose are fully vaccinated now. 

Larson said a few people experienced fever and body aches after the second dose of the vaccination. 

“We just want to reiterate that that is a normal immune response. You should expect something like that. You can actually get that from any vaccine that you receive. It means that your body is producing an immune response and then in the future you will be able to fight off COVID-19 if you are exposed to it,” she said. 

People cannot get COVID from the vaccine because it is not a live virus vaccine, she said. 

Larson said that the second dose needs to be given for efficacy of the vaccine. It is 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 if people get the full two doses.

Larson said if CDC changes its guidelines and allows people with both vaccinations to not quarantine if exposed to a case — now, even if they received both doses people have to quarantine if exposed — people who have only received one dose will still have to follow quarantine guidelines if exposed to COVID-19. 

COVID-19 tests are being screened for COVID-19 mutations at a state level, said Larson. 

In waiting lists for the first dose of vaccine, Hill County still has about 410 people who are ages 18-69 with underlying health conditions to be vaccinated and 65 people who are age 70 and older to be vaccinated. 

Within this week the health department plans to open up the vaccines to people age 18-69 with underlying health conditions. When it is opened up people age 70 and older are still eligible to obtain the vaccine, said Larson. 

Eligible people can call 400-2369 to be put on the list.

Hill County has been receiving 200 vaccines weekly from the state and expects to continue receiving this amount in the future, she said.