New location available for COVID-19 vaccinations

Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods’s pharmacy, Gary & Leo’s Health Mart, began administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Monday, vaccinating about 50 people as of about 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Pharmacy Manager Eric Ward said the vaccines are being distributed on a first-come-first serve basis for everyone in Phase 1B+ of the state’s vaccine roll-out plan.

Western Drug Pharmacy in Havre also has been administering the vaccine, along with clinics held by Hill County Health Department, Northern Montana Health Care and Bullhook Community Health Center and vaccine administered by the Merril Lundman Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic for local veterans.

Clinics are also being held in Blaine and Chouteau counties and vaccinations also continue on Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belnkap Indian Reservation.

Officials urge people to continue to take precautions to avoid spreading the virus, such as wearing cloth masks when out in public and avoiding large groups.

While numbers of new cases are down, the impact of the disease is still being seen, with Hill County reporting Monday evening its 41st COVID-19-related death.

For the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Gary & Leo’s health Mart, eligible people can go to the pharmacy without an appointment to see if they have the vaccine available.

Ward said the pharmacy has only received 90 vaccines and have used more than 50, so it’s unlikely that any will be left by this evening.

He said the pharmacy gets allocated vaccine through the Hill County Health Department, and while it sounds like they might get more at the end of the month there are no guarantees.

He said if they start getting more vaccine they plan to give it out at least on weekdays but aren’t sufficiently staffed during the weekends, though he hopes to change that.

He said reactions to the vaccine becoming available have been overwhelmingly positive and he suspects the single-dose nature of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a lot to do with that.

“I think people have been excited to get it, I feel like a lot of people have been holding out for the single dose vaccine,” he said.

Ward said managing the vaccine’s administration has been pretty much identical to the normal flu vaccine with the exception of the this vaccine having a slightly shorter expiration date.

Ward said Phase 1B+ includes persons aged 60 years and older, American Indians and other people of color who may be at elevated risk for COVID-19 complications, and persons aged 16-69 with high-risk medical conditions.

Qualifying conditions include cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, Down Syndrome, heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease of cardiomyopathies, weakened immune system from solid organ transplant, severe obesity (BMI> 40 kg/m2), sickle cell disease, Type 1 & 2 Diabetes.

On Gary & Leo’s Facebook page, the post announcing the vaccine’s availability Tuesday says on a case-by-case basis, medical providers may include individuals with other conditions that place them at elevated risk for COVID-19 related complications.

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Havre Daily News editor Tim Leeds contributed to this report.