Owensboro Health officials say they are unable to schedule appointments yet for the next round of the COVID-19 vaccine because the hospital has not received confirmation on when it will receive doses. Meanwhile, the Green River District Health Department is reporting a “significant rise” in the number of cases.
OH Director of Marketing Brian Hamby said the hospital is receiving about a dozen calls a day from people wanting to schedule an appointment to receive the new vaccine. He noted a recent national media report said vaccines will be out on September 15, but Hamby said Owensboro Health doesn’t know for sure that doses will arrive by that time.
Hamby said OH hopes to receive the vaccine doses later this month, but they cannot schedule vaccine appointments until a shipping date is confirmed. As soon as a date is established, the hospital will open scheduling and announce it to the public.
Green River District Health Department (GRDHD) Director Clay Horton said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting on September 12 to discuss recommendations for the new COVID-19 vaccines.
“Regarding their availability timeline, we’ll need to wait until after the meeting to gain more information,” he said. “We expect these vaccines to become accessible later this month and have been told that there are no anticipated supply problems or delays. We have already pre-ordered vaccines and intend to provide them as soon as they are available.”
In mid-August, Horton said the health department was noticing a significant rise in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks compared to through the summer. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) similarly reported an increase in cases nationwide, a trend that has continued through Labor Day.
GRDHD released their monthly COVID-19 update on Wednesday. According to the report, during August they investigated 1,203 new COVID-19 infections across their seven-county region, which represented a “significant rise” from the 195 cases reported in July. The report also noted that during August there were six COVID-19-related deaths (three in Daviess County).
