Coloradans frustrated over lack of vaccination plan for people 70 and older
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — KRDO has received dozens of calls from discouraged viewers, unable to find information about how and where people at least 70-years-old can get a COVID-19 vaccine.
El Paso County Public Health doesn’t have answers just yet. The local health department said it is still working with the state to figure out a vaccine distribution plan for that age group.
A spokesperson for Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs said Centura Health will be able to provide a vaccination plan soon. UCHealth said it's already begun vaccinations for people 70 and older on a random basis.
“We are working to offer the vaccine as fairly as possible, sending out invitations to schedule appointments as we have vaccine supplies,” said Cary Vogrin, spokesperson for UCHealth. “Among our patients, we are randomly selecting individuals in the over-70 age group.”
UCHealth asks that people create a My Health Connection account if they do not already have one, and watch that account for a message to schedule a vaccine.
In Pueblo County, residents were turned away from local fire stations administering the vaccine to healthcare workers. The public information officer for the Pueblo Fire Department said dozens of people showed up unexpectedly without an invitation.
“We’ve had a few instances today where we had members of the public who showed up at our fire stations thinking that we would be able to vaccinate them,” Capt. Woody Percival said. “I just want to make sure everyone knows we do not have any vaccinations at our fire departments.”
Woody said the fire department is merely providing space for health officials to administer vaccines to people in Pueblo County. However, the county is still finishing vaccinations for Phase 1A.
According to Gov. Jared Polis, people 70 and older can get vaccinated as soon as Phase 1B begins. Pueblo Public Health Director Randy Evetts expects Phase 1B to roll out in Pueblo County within a week.
“We are continuing to work through our prioritization and that includes, first our healthcare workers, healthcare providers, first responders,” Evetts said. “When we get through that group, and hopefully that will be in the next week or so, we will do our best to vaccinate the 70 and above age group.”
Evetts estimates there are at least 18,000 people in Pueblo County who are 70 or older. The county health department isn’t receiving nearly that many vaccines weekly or even monthly.
“As you can imagine, when we’re getting a few thousand or a thousand or a few hundred doses a week, it will take us a while to get through that and continue to maintain giving second doses to the others who already had their first dose,” Evetts said.
Pueblo County Public Health encourages people to check its website to find out when the vaccine will be available to them.
The Fremont County health department also provided a phone number for people to call to be added to a vaccine waitlist:
"Fremont County Department of Public Health and Environment and St. Thomas More hospital are currently working to plan and schedule vaccine clinics for 1A and 1B populations in Fremont County. Once frontline healthcare workers and first responders within Phase 1A and 1B populations have been vaccinated and vaccine supply is sufficient, FCDPHE will start administering COVID-19 vaccine to Fremont County residents that are age 70 and older. If you are 70 years of age or older you can call our COVID-19 Hotline at 719.276.7421 to get on a list to receive the vaccine when it is available. At this time, FCDPHE does not have an exact date when they will receive sufficient vaccine supply."
Fremont County Department of Public Health and Environment
