HAMILTON — Ravalli County continues to make steady progress in coronavirus vaccinations with smaller clinics. However, the county is discussing the idea of staging another, larger clinic sometime in the next few weeks.
So far, most of the vaccinations in the Bitterroot have been coming in smaller clinics, either through the Ravalli County Health Department, or local pharmacies like Bitterroot Drug and Corvallis Drug.
But last month, the vaccination efforts took a major leap forward when Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital partnered with local providers, with nearly 1,000 people having already received their second shots.
The county is receiving a steady supply of vaccines but says no plans have been firmed up yet for another larger clinic.
"We have a tray of Pfizer that's coming in, and we're due to get another tray of Pfizer in another week or so. So, we are in talks right now with some of our local providers,” Ravalli County Health Director Tiffany Webber explained.
“To try to maybe get Family Medicine, Sapphire Clinic and a few others to come together with us because we don't quite have the ability to put on what Marcus Daly did. But we want to be able to put something on a little smaller scale."
The county continues to receive a mix of the trio of approved vaccines, although the initial allocation of Moderna isn't being refreshed through the state.
"The Moderna, we haven't seen any Moderna in a little while and we're getting to the bottom of our Moderna allotment that we have on hand. They're all spoken for. We're booked through March,” Webber said. “We did get about a hundred Johnson & Johnson and we're about nearly through all those as well."
Webber told MTN News she was relieved to see the additional federal allocation of vaccine for teachers and says overall, she's pretty pleased with the progress that's being made in the Bitterroot.
"And as I'm giving patients information about what to expect, I was letting them know that in two-weeks this is what your coverage will be for being safe. And I asked a lot of them what their plans were,” Webber said.
“And a lot of people were like 'I'm going to see my grandkids. I'm going to go see my kids. I haven't seen them in a year.' And I think for me it's like, I'm just looking forward to sitting on the grass with a beer at a concert somewhere, don't you?"
Last week, Webber advised people to continue to listen for updates if they had signed up to receive a vaccine and still haven't been contacted for an appointment.