GEORGE — The first weekend of COVID-19 vaccination appointments being opened up for local residents ages 70 and older saw all reservation slots for the rest of the month fill quickly.

The spokesman for the local health department said the problem has not been a lack of manpower or a lack of capabilities – it has been a lack of supply. .

Spokesperson David Heaton said the Southwest Utah Public Health Department has been receiving 2,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

That supply is not just for the approximately 35,000 people locally who are 70 and older, but for school staff, first responders and non-hospital medical personnel who also qualify right now for the vaccine in Utah.

So when the state asked us what help we need, there’s only one answer: We need more vaccines,” Heaton said, adding that the department has an abundance of manpower that could handle a large influx of vaccine supply on day one.

On the second day of his administration, President Joe Biden signed an emergency order Thursday to boost COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution.

As of Thursday, the Utah Department of Health says 12,887 people in Southern Utah have received their first dose of the vaccine, while 487 people have received their second dose to be fully inoculated.

The more federally-based Biden strategy on COVID-19 vaccine distribution differs from the strategy of the administration of President Donald Trump, which focused on each state relying on its own vaccine policies and distribution.

Cox defended his order earlier in the month that local health districts use up their vaccine supply within seven days.

He said the only alternative to that was a slower rollout that would have left vaccine supply sitting in freezers and refrigerators. .

Either doses sitting on shelves or a crush of people,” Cox said, adding a slower approach would have left the possibility of vaccine sitting unused for too long and needing to be thrown away – something that has been experienced in other states.

Another part of the White House vaccine plan is for the creation of larger, mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics nationwide.

Heaton said the Southwest  Utah Public Health Department already has a plan to have such a mass clinic and use last September’s flu vaccination “shootout” at the fairgrounds in Washington County Regional Park as a dry run. .

“Our flu shootout was in preparation for the vaccine rollout, but the vaccine supply has been more of a trickle so that was scaled down to our offices,” Heaton said, adding that if the supply comes in, they have the staff to immediately move to much larger COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

Until the federal reinforcement of vaccine supply arrives, there’s the matter of dealing with the present high-demand, low-supply status of getting people inoculated locally against the virus. .

Heaton said Southern Utah has a unique problem compared to the rest of the state, which has a younger demographic. .

While most Southern Utahns still await getting their first shot of the vaccine, the time is coming up for those that received the vaccine when it was first rolled out to receive the second of two COVID-19 vaccine shots.

On Thursday, the local health department announced they will not have to compete with the already high demand of others for reservation slots.

The Southwest Utah Public Health Department will be holding separate second-shot clinics.

The move comes after the governor announced that like the first doses, the second-dose supply will need to be used within seven days by a local health department or it will go back into the vaccine supply chain.

Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine.

Where: Southwest Utah Public Health Department St.

Where: Southwest Utah Public Health Department Cedar City office, 260 DL Sargent Dr., Cedar City, 84721.

Where: Southwest Utah Public Health Department Kanab office, 445 N

Where: Southwest Utah Public Health Department Panguitch office, 601 Center St

Where: Southwest Utah Public Health Department Beaver Office,  75 1175 North, Beaver 84713

Number of initial vaccine injections in Southern Utah: 12,887