(Newser)
– An Arizona county has simplified its requirements to receive a COVID-19 vaccination: you only need to be over 18 years old. Gila County opened its vaccine stock two weeks ago, in part because it has one of the lowest dosing rates used by the state, CBS. reports. Health officials also received Arizona approval last week to make vaccinations at a self-employed clinic. “Before that, we were struggling to find enough people to make appointments,” said Michael O’Driscoll, the county’s director of public health. “So the state gave me permission to give it to any resident 18 years of age or older.” A county survey showed that about half of the population of 56,000 would be vaccinated if possible; about a quarter of the population have now had at least one blow.
Officials have now begun offering vaccinations to everyone working in the small county east of Phoenix, also on CNN. A strong communication effort to let people know that vaccinations are available, essentially by treating the pandemic like wildfire, has worked well, officials said. “What we did was create a pandemic just like we would during our fire season,” O’Driscoll said. “We set up our incident command very similar to that.” People from different communities and county departments helped vaccinate residents. A health official at the Cobre Regional Medical Center said there was still a lack of impatience among young people, especially to get the shots, which she said could hinder efforts to obtain herd immunity. Gila County reported 3,885 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 154 deaths since Thursday. (Read more stories about the coronavirus vaccine.)