As the county does not ….

As the county does not know until each Friday how much vaccine it will have available for the following week, Ross said residents should watch for Health Department updates before trying to arrange an appointment.

“The best thing they can do is watch the county website for updates on when clinics are coming,” he said.

Also, he noted, private providers and perhaps even pharmacies are starting to receive doses for their patients, so residents who are eligible can try to get an appointment through them.

“We still encourage people to work with their providers,” Ross said. “The health department clinics, those aren’t the only game in town.”

As Ross said he understands the immunization protocols, private providers are also supposed to be limiting who can get shots at this time based on the same eligibility list as the county follows.

Ross said people will need to be patient as the federal government ramps up the distribution plan.

“We understand that people want to get the vaccine and we’re doing everything we can to maximize the number of vaccines we can get out there,” he said. Meanwhile, while citizens wait for their vaccination opportunity, they should continue to be diligent to help limit the spread of COVID-19 in their communities.

“Even though we’re getting shots in people’s arms, we still need to keep pushing the mitigation measures,” Ross said. Those include the wearing of face masks, social distancing, and the avoidance of crowds.

“I realize we’ve been at this for a year, but we can’t lose sight of what’s been working when we’re this close to getting back to normal,” Ross said.