Yesterday, registered nurse Hava Phillips — a member of Humboldt County’s Vaccine Task Force and supervisor of the county’s public health clinic — took questions from the media on vaccination efforts and other local public health efforts on topics such as travel and school reopening
Video above. Media questions, and timestamps relating to the point in the video in which they are asked and answered, can be found below.
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(0:00) 1. From the North Coast News: Can you explain why being vaccinated is not a free pass to travel? (And will you please reiterate the quarantine guidelines for travelers who come into Humboldt from out-of-county and out-of-state?)
(1:30) 2. From the North Coast News: Are there any updates from officials on if the vaccination protects against transmission? If not, how can schools reopen safely even if teachers are vaccinated, with the general public still at risk? I.e. families of students and teachers?
(2:30) 3. From the Redheaded Blackbelt: Are local CVS or Walgreens going to be offering vaccines to the public, and if so, how do people go about setting up an appointment? Who is currently eligible to be vaccinated within the scope of “essential workers” beyond caretaking staff or medical first responders?
(3:30) 4. From the Redheaded Blackbelt: What percent of local first responders have been vaccinated? Have there been instances of local first responders declining to take the vaccine when it was made available?
(4:15) 5. From the Redheaded Blackbelt: Where does Public Health stand on the issue of vaccinating teachers prior to reopening schools that have been maintaining distance learning options?
(4:50) 6. From the Redheaded Blackbelt: When will the county be adding vaccination data to the county dashboard? Will the county COVID-19 dashboard include the number of vaccinations given locally, what type of vaccine, and any additional demographics regarding who in the community has been vaccinated- similar data as with the testing statistics presented?
(5:30) 7. From the Times-Standard: How many approved local vaccinators are there in the county?
(5:40) 8. From the Times-Standard: When does the county expect to begin receiving supplies in greater volume or at an increased frequency, if at all? What is this dependent upon and has the state, pharmaceutical companies or the CDC given any indication of when this might happen?
(6:30) 9. From the Times-Standard: How long does Public Health expect it will take to administer the 6,000 second doses of vaccine? How much will this slow down first doses? Specifically, how many first doses per week can county residents expect to be administered and for how many weeks will that last?
(7:45) 10. From the Times-Standard: Can you reiterate the process of acquiring vaccines? Is the process automated so the county receives the level of supply it initially asked for or do counties need to resubmit order forms?
(8:25) 11. From the Times-Standard: At the current rate of vaccine administration, how long would it take for the county to vaccinate all of its residents?