For nearly a month, Smith Drug in Eureka Springs has not received any Covid-19 vaccine supplies from the Arkansas Department of Health due to miscommunication about the ability of Smith Drug to provide the vaccinations. But Dr. Dan Bell said now that ADH realizes that shots are being administered by the ECHO Clinic, Smith Drug is expected to receive 400 shots next week, 400 shots the week after that and 400 each week after that until those currently eligible in the area have all received their vaccines.
“Someone on the pharmacy board said Smith Drug was not capable of giving the shots,” Bell, co-director of ECHO, said. “I don’t know where that information came from. Once it was clear Smith Drug has a long waiting list and that the shots can be delivered by volunteers with the ECHO clinic, they have approved the shots coming to Eureka Springs. The state is trying to do right thing, but communications were a problem. It was just a matter of finally reaching the right people who could understand. The first shipment will catch us up for the whole month we missed.”
Smith Drug has a waiting list of more than 1,200. Many local people are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get vaccinated against a disease that is particularly fatal to elders with about 80 percent of deaths being in people who are over 65 years old.
Bell said the breakthrough on the vaccination supplies is really good news.
“Things are loosening up on the vaccine supply,” Bell said. “We will get our community vaccinated. We have a lot people currently eligible who are 70 years old or older on the waiting list. We have to give them not just the first, but the second shot. It will take us about six weeks or more to finish the first phase of 1B because of the two-shot requirement. After we whittle our list down, and we will go to next phase of 1B and then 1C.”
The harsh winter storm that has descended could make it difficult for people to drive to get vaccinations scheduled Wednesday, Feb. 17 starting at 9 a.m. But Bell said every effort would be made to give the shots as supplies must be used in order to have a steady supply of vaccine coming in.
“It is a good community effort and we are going to make it happen,” he said.
In advocating for Eureka Springs to get shots, Bell told state officials that Carroll County had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state at 6.5 percent receiving the first shot versus the state average of ten percent. During the past month, two drug stores in Berryville, one in Green Forest and one at Holiday Island have been receiving 100 shots per week each.
After the governor authorizes proceeding to phase two of 1B, people 65 and older and essential workers who have not already been vaccinated will be eligible. Healthcare workers and law enforcement officers were in the first group to be vaccinated. School employees in Eureka Springs who were in the first phase of 1B were provided their first vaccinations the third week of January.
Bell said the Moderna shots coming to Eureka Springs will be shared with Eureka Springs Hospital, which has set up to do vaccinations at the medical clinic across the road from the hospital. There is a small waiting list at ESH.
“We will share the shots we are receiving to make sure they are given as fast as possible,” Bell said. “The hospital has the ability to give shots, so we are going to share 100 we got with them so we can go ahead and get them in arms as soon as possible. Many folks have gotten on the waiting list at both the hospital and Smith Drug.”
People on the waiting list will be contacted by ECHO volunteers for scheduling. To get on the waiting list, call Smith Drug at (479) 253-9175. To get on the list at the hospital, call 479-253-7400.
Bell said the other good news is that locally, in state and across the nation, the number of new cases of Covid-19 is coming down steadily after the surges seen after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s gatherings.
“Cases are falling and vaccine supplies are improving,” Bell said. “As we get more people vaccinated, the rates will continue to drop. There is great reason right now to be optimistic about our fight against Covid.”
it’s being said, some of those who are qualified and volunteered to administer shots, failed to follow the guidelines of 70 and older first! Some younger the 70 are now due to receive their second vaccine shot.