The Cooper County Public Health Center (CCPHC) is sharing updates on the COVID-19 vaccine access and planning.

A release from Administrator Melanie Hutton says Cooper County is one of 13 counties that is expected to share 800 doses (prime or first dose) of the vaccine per week. The health center is told it will increase to 1,000 doses to be shared by all.

Due to the small volume of vaccine distributed to the Health Department region, the Health Department group must rotate which counties will receive the vaccine each week.

Second doses will be automatically shipped and are not counted in the 800 to 1,000 doses per week.

This supply process does not include the second-dose clinic already scheduled at the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel on Monday and Tuesday, March 22 and 23. That vaccine will come from a different allocation source.

CCPHC will be working with each small municipality within the county to schedule a small dose clinic.

Small clinics will be advertised locally only. This is to avoid large mass phone calls to volunteer agencies. Mass phone calls will overwhelm the volunteer agency receiving them and tends to shut down phone lines.

CCPHC is aware that not all citizens have access to transportation to travel to Boonville for one of the mass clinics. These smaller clinics are designed to target those special needs citizens in the county’s rural areas.