Three Rivers health department begins COVID-19 vaccinations for ages 75 and older

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Senior citizens 75 years and older helped kick off Phase 1B of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Dodge County. Many of the seniors who signed up believe the shot will be life-changing.

Don and Donna Rinne have been waiting for the call to be vaccinated.

“Oh, it’s been stressful never knowing what’s going to happen from one day to the next even though you’re taking all the precautions,” said Don, a Dodge County resident.

The couple is hoping the shots allow them to return to their normal day to day lives.

“Oh, getting back together with friends and family and more traveling,” Donna said.

Three Rivers Public Health Department along with Methodist Fremont Health and Methodist Physicals Clinic have teamed up to set up this vaccination operation at Fremont’s Christensen Field Main Arena. Three Rivers Public Health Department serves Dodge, Saunders, and Washington counties.

Residents of the area ages 65 and older who want to be vaccinated and have not registered with the Three Rivers Health Department can do so by sending an e-mail to covid@3rphd.org; or call 402 704-2247 and leave a voice mail.

“The older population is certainly more vulnerable to the virus and so from a community perspective that’s where we’re starting with the 75 and older population and pretty quickly move to 65 and older,” said Brett Richmond, president of Methodist Fremont Health.

“In Dodge County, at least 65 and older, we have approximately 7,000 people in Dodge County in that age group. So obviously this is just a small percentage of that 7,000 people in Dodge County.”

These vaccinations are giving seniors hope. Three Rivers Health Department officials say it’s important to get our older citizens vaccinated. It’s also important to get the vaccine to smaller communities.

“What we need is we need herd immunity so we have to have an equitable allocation across all of the counties in all of Nebraska so that includes all of the towns that are 50 people that are 75 people, that are 200 people,” said Terra Uhing, with Three Rivers.

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