Vaccinations Continue Through Northland as Providers Eye Next Wave of Doses

DULUTH, Minn.– As vaccinations continue across Minnesota, in St. Louis county 8,377 people have received the shot. While that’s just four percent of the county’s population, those in the health sector are preparing for the next steps.

The county is still in phase one of vaccine distribution but Essentia Health has laid out its plans for the next round of vaccinations that include members of the general public.

The group next in line includes people age 65 or older. It also adds those with chronic illnesses like heart or lung conditions.

This comes as federal and state officials have given the go-ahead for vaccine distributers to administer them to people in those groups if there are more vaccines than needed to complete phase 1-A. The hospital has already vaccinated more than 4,000 people and 1,800 of those have received the necessary second dose.

Management at Essentia is beginning to collect information on those who would be eligible as they are trying to make sure the vaccine is rolled out to the highest number of people who are most at risk of getting severely ill with the virus.

“We anxiously await the supply to meet that request,” said Essentia Health President Dr. Jon Pryor. “The more people that get the vaccine, the sooner we’ll put this pandemic in the rear view mirror. That being said, when the vaccine floodgates do open, we’ll need patience. This is a lot of people to get to.”

As the COVID-19 vaccine makes its way through St. Louis County, health officials are asking for extra hands on deck.

They’re asking for volunteers to help out at vaccination clinics when it becomes more widely available. They are asking for individuals to sign up through the Minnesota response registry. The county is looking for nurses who are able to administer vaccines, along with other support staff for registration and crowd control.

“We want to increase our capacity and access all of the resources that we can in our region for increased clinic capacity,” said Amy Westbrook, Public Health Division Director for St. Louis County.

St. Louis County Public Health has also reached out to students in the healthcare field to help with the rollout. Those who are interested are encouraged to apply at mnresponds.org.