COVID vaccinations opening to all this week

Local health officials say they are opening up clinics for COVID-19 vaccinations this week, ahead of the planned opening April 1, with some saying they have been doing so for a while.

Alysia Mosness, director of infection prevention at Northern Montana Hospital, said the partners putting on a vaccination clinic Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Havre's Holiday Village Mall, are opening to everyone 18 and older, with walk-ins taken while vaccine supplies last.

"As long as we have vaccine we'll be able to get them in," she said, adding they want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. " ... It's a very important step now, that were moving on to everyone."

Jana McPherson-Hauer, head of Blaine County Health Department, said Blaine County also is scheduling people from all categories at a clinic starting at 11 a.m. in the Commercial Building at Blaine County Fairgrounds Thursday.

"The method we had implemented kind of plays right into this," she said.

Blaine County has been building a list of people who want to be vaccinated when the categories open up to include them, McPherson-Hauer said, so they have been calling people from the list that would have been eligible next week to schedule them Thursday.

Liberty County is going into its second week of scheduling people from all age groups and categories, and Chouteau County Health Department also is opening up its vaccinations to people who would have been eligible next week if extra doses are available.

The state originally opened vaccinations in Phase 1A to front-line health care workers and health care workers likely to be exposed to the virus and to people in long-term care facilities.

The second phase, 1B, opened the list to people 70 and older and people 18 to 69 with qualifying underlying conditions.

That recently was expanded to include people 60 and older and was expanded last week, effective April 1, to include all Montana residents 16 and older.

Montana is using three vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, all of which have been rated remarkably effective and extremely safe, but which have some storage requirements.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only one approved for 16- and 17-year-olds, must be stored at extremely cold temperatures and both it and the Moderna vaccine require two shots, spaced 21 days apart for the Pfizer-BioNTech and 28 days apart for Moderna, to be fully effective.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is not available in the Hill and Blaine county clinics, so 16- and 17-year-olds cannot be vaccinated at those, but both counties can help younger people get vaccinated.

McPherson-Hauer said they are working with Indian Health Services at Fort Belknap Indian Reservation to arrange shots for those people, and the Hill County Health Department works with other county health departments to arrange vaccinations for younger people.

McPherson-Hauer said they are continuing to build the list of people to get vaccinated, and she is available to talk to people with questions.

"Anybody interested in vaccines, I would like to talk to them and help them make the right decision," she said.

She said people can call 357-2345 to get on the list or to talk about the vaccines.

Blaine County has a second-dose clinic planned for April 1 and will schedule clinics as needed as needed past that, she said.

People can call 262-1585 to get an appointment for vaccination in Hill County.

Another clinic is planned for Hill County April 1.

Mosness said, with the clinics now opening to the general population and most of the work force, local officials wanted to get moving on their vaccinations.

"We have had a good turnout in the county so far, but this is a very important step in the process," she said. " ... We're hoping for a good turnout."