The Cooper County Public Health Center has received 250 doses of COVID vaccine for healthcare providers and emergency-service providers from Boone Hospital in Columbia.

Administrator Melanie Hutton says, “We are working off of a predetermined list of providers/responders.”

Hutton says the health center received the vaccine at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday and was administering it to local providers by 1 p.m.

Hutton says, “We provided 80 doses within the first hour and 28 doses within the second hour. As promised, our staff has worked hard with pre-planning. We will continue administering vaccine to those providers scheduled (Thursday) and (Friday).

Hutton reiterates, “Once again, these clinics are not open to the public. At this time, there are no extra doses for the general public. Our vaccine order with the government is still in place. We are making every effort to get vaccine into Cooper County.”

Hutton says the staff is working extremely hard to provide vaccine administration along with other scheduled services. “Please be patient when calling, as we have been under heavy call volumes on top of high work loads. Nurses may not be available for questions by phone if they are in the vaccine clinics. Again, we ask for your patience.”