Vaccinations underway for some of the public in rural Colorado
COSTILLA COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Many counties in Southern Colorado are still preparing for the next phase phase in the vaccination process. However, some counties have already begun vaccinating the public, specifically their elderly population.
Costilla County, a small county in the San Luis Valley, has already finished with the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and people ages 70+ are already receiving the vaccine.
"The first part of us moving onto the 70-year-old individuals started this past weekend this Sunday," said Paul Wertz with the Costilla County Public Health.
Wertz and Costilla County Public Health along with Valley Wide Health Symptoms and local law enforcement organized a drive thru vaccination center for Costilla County's elderly.
Costilla County Public Health Agency is currently making appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations for county residents that are high/moderate-risk health care workers and first responders, as well as individuals age 70 & above.
— Costilla OEM (@Costilla_OEM) January 5, 2021
Contact them @ 719-672-3332 for more information.
"[Governor Jared Polis] actually sent down some additional vaccines to several locations down here to the San Luis Valley," said Wertz. "During the event, we served about 210 of our over-70 population."
That number is continuing to rise into the week.
Unlike more populous counties like Pueblo County or El Paso County, Wertz says Castillo County does not have a major hospital. Due to this, health officials in the smaller county were able to distribute the vaccine to the general public more quickly.
Meanwhile in Pueblo County, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment operated a drive-thru vaccination center exclusively for first responders and health care workers on Wednesday. Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport was one of the first to receive the vaccine.
"There is more and more vaccine coming more and more doses coming," said Chief Davenport. "Our health department is working very hard at that. We want to get this out. We want to get people vaccinated who want the vaccine."
Wednesday morning, Pueblo Health tweeted they are not vaccinating folks above the age of 70, but they are close.
You may have seen Gov. Polis FB this AM. We're almost there, but not yet. Please do not go to a vaccine site unless you have been notified to do so. We're not yet to the phase of vaccinating those ages 70+, but we are close. Read full msg: https://t.co/rjysiDuSt8
— PuebloHealth (@PuebloHealth) January 6, 2021
Pueblo Health officials tell KRDO, they hope to finish the first round of COVID-19 doses for health care workers and first responders by the end of this week. While they hope to begin the next stage of the vaccination process with Pueblo County's elderly population sometime next week.
However, health officials say they are still organizing staff and searching for a location for the future vaccination drive-thru center.
In Fremont County, health officials are in the same boat as Pueblo. Currently vaccinating first responders and health care workers, but not quite ready to start vaccinating the public. The county is asking people ages 70 and up to call their hotline number and make a reservation for a vaccination. The sooner you call in the quicker you can get a vaccine.
The Fremont County COVID-19 vaccination hotline number is 719-276-7421,
