Weber-Morgan Health Department switches to new system for vaccination appointments | Health care

OGDEN – The pool of people eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations is growing soon, as is the Weber-Morgan health department moving to a new system to register people for admissions.

At the same time, McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden and several other hospitals in the Intermountain Healthcare System have started delivering COVID-19 vaccinations to step up efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible.

Lori Buttars, Weber-Morgan Health Department spokeswoman, can’t tell when anyone who wants gunshots will get one. This depends in part on vaccine production, which has increased and is expected to continue to grow. However, the vaccination infrastructure continues to grow and interest is high.

“The response we received from the community was very enthusiastic. We feel good about community involvement, ”Buttars said. “I have the feeling we have reached a rhythm.”

Starting Monday, Utah’s priority list for vaccinations will expand from people 65 years of age and over to people 50 and over. This came from an announcement made by Governor Spencer Cox on Thursday. Buttars estimates that just under 70% of those over 70 in the Weber and Morgan counties were vaccinated. “We feel really good about the dent we made,” she said.

And just as the number of people eligible for the vaccine continues to grow, the health department has moved online appointment scheduling capabilities for those who want to take pictures to a Utah state website, vacinate.utah.gov. It is accessed through a link on the Weber-Morgan Department of Health website at webermorganhealth.org. Utilizing the site, which is also used by the Salt Lake County and San Juan County’s health departments, was meant to avoid technical issues that arose when the Weber-Morgan Health Department’s old online vaccination registration system was in use in late January after a human rush crashed using it all at once.

In addition, those looking for vaccinations can register for appointments directly on the website accinate.utah.gov. On the replacement system, after the Weber-Morgan Health Department’s system crashed last January, those looking for appointments put their names on a waiting list and later selected appointments when they opened.

Lance Madigan, a spokesman for Intermountain Healthcare, said seven hospitals in the system, including McKay-Dee, started delivering vaccinations Thursday. State officials announced last Monday that Intermountain, the University of Utah Health System, and Nomi Health would help with vaccinations as the state continues to receive more vaccine doses.

The Intermountain system received 13,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Thursday and Friday for scheduled clinics at the seven Intermountain facilities and for one additional set for Monday. More will come in the coming weeks. To register to be vaccinated at an Intermountain facility, go to intermountain.com/covidvaccine.

Meanwhile, Buttars said efforts are being made to recruit more companies to help with the vaccination effort in Weber and Morgan counties. The aim is to make the vaccine as accessible to the public as possible at various locations. The Dee Events Center on the Weber State University campus in Ogden was the primary vaccination center for the Weber-Morgan Department of Health and was doing around 5,000 vaccinations per week according to the latest count.