Tioga County’s Vaccination Plan follows the New York State Department of Health and the Governor’s distribution priority list, which is broken down into multiple phases:
- Phase 1 – health care workers, long-term care facility workers and patients
- Phase 2 – first responders (fire, police, national guard), school staff, childcare providers, public health workers, essential frontline workers that regularly interact with the public, high-risk individuals in the public
- Phase 3 – individuals over 65, and individuals under 65 with high-risk comorbidities and health conditions
- Phase 4 – all other essential workers
- Phase 5 – healthy adults and children
Tioga County Public Health has existing Memorandums of Understanding with locations throughout the county to serve as Points of Dispensing to vaccinate individuals; however, the department is identifying additional potential locations in order to best serve the community. Currently, information regarding timeline, amount of vaccine or other information has not been released by New York State of Department of Health.
Tioga County Public Health has received an influx of phone calls and Facebook messages requesting information regarding the plan for vaccinating the county against COVID-19. The department is currently working toward finalizing a plan, while working with several partners throughout the county.
The Vaccine Planning Committee includes representation from Tioga County Legislature, Tioga County Office of Emergency Services, Waverly Police Department, Social Services, school district superintendents, and Public Health.
“This is a fluid situation; things are progressing rapidly, and new information is constantly coming out,” says Katie Wait, Public Health Preparedness and Vaccine Initiative Coordinator. “We know that our community has many questions, and wants to know what will be taking place so they can prepare. Please be patient with us as we work through this together. We will publish updates as the situation evolves through Press Releases, Facebook and our web.”
