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Demand for COVID-19 vaccine decreasing in Flathead County

Flathead Community Health Center
Posted at 4:19 PM, May 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-04 18:24:15-04

KALISPELL — Flathead County health officials are decreasing the number of COVID-19 vaccine clinics starting this week based on a recent decline in demand.

Flathead County Health Officer Joe Russell said he’s still optimistic on where things stand with vaccine distribution in Flathead County.

“We could literally get to 45% over the next two months, I’m optimistic, maybe I should shoot for 50%,” Russell tells MTN News.

Russell said the county is set to reach full immunization in 40% of eligible residents in roughly two weeks once second doses are administered to more than 3,000 individuals.

“We’re hitting some of those population groups that we need to pretty hard, so I’m pleased with that,” said Russell.

In Flathead County, 73% of the population group 70 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to go to zero cases over the next two to three months but if we can keep our case count low and keep it out of susceptible populations, then I think our vaccine efforts are going to be a positive effect on the community,” said Russell.

He said the county will now offer two vaccine clinics a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell.

Russell said the county simply doesn’t have the demand to offer additional clinics.

“You know eventually we will go down to one, one day a week, I just don’t know when that will be, it will certainly have to do a lot with demand,” said Russell.

All residents aged 16 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Flathead County.