Tulsa County seniors may start getting COVID vaccines next week.
They're second in line in the state's phase two priority group behind first responders, who started getting vaccinations this week.
Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Tuesday adults 65 or older should be able to start making appointments Thursday when the state health department rolls out its scheduling app and portal.
"We hope to make that available, start our 65 and older age group to be vaccinated — start scheduling Thursday, and we’ll start [appointments for] those individuals come Monday," Dart said during a virtual media briefing hosted by the Healthier Oklahoma coalition.
CVS and Walgreens are vaccinating many nursing home residents in phase one as part of a federal program.
Dart said the current week-by-week model of distributing vaccine doses to states is keeping THD from giving shots faster and getting to groups further down the priority list sooner.
"If we were able to receive all of our vaccine allotment in greater numbers, we could actually push them out faster, but we get vaccine allotments weekly and we don’t know what that allotment is going to be beforehand, which is why we have to delay scheduling and I think has led to some frustration," Dart said.
Dart said at last count, more than 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been distributed in Tulsa County. Most shots given so far have gone to health care workers caring for COVID patients.
