COVID-19 booster only currently offered for immune compromised individuals

If you are an immune compromised individual, you can now get a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Whitley County Health Department, but those are currently the only people who can get a third dose there.

“We are not doing boosters right now. We are only doing those immune compromised individuals,” Public Health Director Marcy Rein told the Whitley County Board of Health during its quarterly meeting Monday. “It will be a minute before we are providing boosters at the health department or pretty much anywhere locally.”

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is scheduled to meet Sept. 22-23 to consider Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations in regards to booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine for those over age 65 or who have high risk conditions.

Rein also announced Monday that the health department is working to package COVID-19 vaccines into smaller doses than what can be gotten from the state for smaller health care providers, such as doctor’s offices and small clinics wanting to give the vaccine.

Rein gave the board of health updates in several additional areas Monday.

• The health department is working to develop its own mobile app for smart phones, which would be free on Google Play and at the Apple Store.

The app will include digital versions of various written guides produced by the health department, and will also include information about such things in the community as food banks, housing and transportation. For those with limited data, the app will be available for use offline.

“We are really excited about it,” Rein said.

The health department is also moving forward with an electronic medical records project. COVID-19 funding is largely being used to pay for it. The electronic records will be shareable with the hospital and major labs.

It will include a patient portal so patients can get test results and schedule appointments electronically.

• The Whitley County Health Department property tax rate will be presented to the fiscal court during a special called meeting on Sept. 29. The rate will be the same as last year, which was 4.0 cents per $100 of assessed value.

• Whitley County is one of 25 counties that have been asked to apply for a CDC grant for a health equity community health worker. This would be an eight-moth grant and include about $65,000, which includes funding for some training.

“We are working on that application right now,” Rein said.

• Since the June quarterly meeting, the health department has received reports about 17 dog bites, two cat bites and one rat bite.

Rein noted there has been an increased number of rats reported around the Exit 11 area of Williamsburg, which is largely due to the construction work on the new historical wagering facility in a field next to the health department. Their habitats have been disturbed and the rats are going elsewhere looking for food.