Appointment Scheduler Open: UCHD has open appointments for vaccination clinics this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday clinics). Go to www.uchdclinic.org to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.
Once on the appointment scheduler, select the Adults Age 65+ location. Choose your date and time. Under the “How do you qualify” question, select your eligible age group – OR – select that you are a person with a qualifying congenital or early onset condition that developed at birth or in childhood (see list below in the who is eligible this week section). We are NOT currently booking appointments for any other categories through this public scheduler.
This scheduler and vaccination clinic is intended for Union County, Ohio residents.
Who is eligible this week: Per the eligibility guidelines set by the State of Ohio, this week we are vaccinating persons age 65 and older and persons under age 65 who were born with or developed in childhood and carried into adulthood one of the qualifying medical conditions. Qualifying congenital or early onset conditions that developed at birth or in childhood and carried into adulthood are:
• Sickle cell anemia.
• Down syndrome.
• Cystic fibrosis.
• Muscular dystrophy.
• Cerebral palsy.
• Spina bifida.
• People born with severe heart defects, requiring regular specialized medical care.
• People with severe type 1 diabetes, who have been hospitalized for this in the past year.
• Phenylketonuria (PKU), Tay-Sachs, and other rare, inherited metabolic disorders.
• Epilepsy with continuing seizures; hydrocephaly; microcephaly, and other severe neurological disorders.
• Turner syndrome, fragile X syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, and other severe genetic disorders.
• People with severe asthma, who have been hospitalized for this in the past year.
• Alpha and beta thalassemia.
• Solid organ transplant candidates and recipients.
You can view the list of qualifying conditions set by the State of Ohio here. Note, current eligibility requires that the condition appeared at birth or developed in childhood and carried into adulthood.
New Eligibility Announced Today: Governor DeWine just announced that Ohio will be expanding eligibility for vaccination. He indicated this expanded eligibility will include persons age 60 and older, pregnant women, persons with type 1 diabetes, persons with ALS, bone marrow transplant recipients, persons working in childcare services, funeral services, law enforcement and corrections officers. Please note that we just received this information and our working on a plan to include these additional eligible groups. More information will come in the next few days on when and how these newly eligible individuals will be able to start booking their appointments.
Vaccine Supply Is Increasing: This week we have been notified our vaccine shipment is significantly larger than previous weeks. We are expecting to receive more than a thousand doses for the first time since we began the vaccination effort. We encourage everyone to stay patient and persistent and continue to seek vaccination from every available provider (Kroger and Walgreens are also vaccine providers in Union County). It may take multiple attempts to book an appointment. Each week as vaccine supply increases, more and more appointments will be available.
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization: The US Food and Drug Administration has granted an Emergency Use Authorization for the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. This vaccine only requires one dose in comparison to Pfizer and Moderna’s two-dose series. The Johnson & Johnson clinical trials indicated the vaccine is 85% effective in preventing severe illness. Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective and Moderna vaccine is 94.1% effective. The FDA approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should help bolster the vaccine supply as well. Public health officials recommend residents get whichever vaccine they have access to. The goal is to vaccinate our community as quickly as the vaccine supply allows.
Working Together, Union County is Getting our Older Adults Vaccinated: According to data from the Ohio Department of Health, 14.48% of Union County residents (8,542 people) have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This is in line with the state of Ohio’s percentage (14.44% of Ohioans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine). A local success to celebrate is that Union County’s percentage of residents over age 65 who have been vaccinated is much higher than the state average. We believe this is in large part to all those in our community helping our older adults book and get to vaccination appointments. Thank you to Union County Senior Services, the Marysville Public Library, our many faith partners, and the sons, daughters, grandchildren and neighbors helping their loved ones. Thank you for once again pulling together to help one another.
Here is a breakdown of the percent of Union County residents who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by age bracket:
- 21% of Union County residents age 80+ have received at least one dose (Ohio = 62.07%)
- 92% of Union County residents age 75-79 have received at least one dose (Ohio = 55.98%)
- 59% of Union County residents age 70-74 have received at least one dose (Ohio = 47.09%)
- 36% of Union County residents age 65-69 have received at least one dose (Ohio = 34.22%)