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Some Ohioans voice frustration due to lack of COVID vaccine availability

The Ohio Department of Health says the number of providers that receive doses and the number of doses themselves fluctuates week-to-week.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Marilyn Miller is 66 years old. She’ll be 67 next week. These days she does what she can to stay active.

“I mean, my excitement today was to go out and shovel snow,” she said. “That was the highlight of my day.”

She also quilts with a group of women at a local church at a distance that is socially safe. Other than that, she stays home.

“Even going to the grocery store and things like that…I don’t want to be around anybody that might have it,” she said.

COVID-19 is a real concern both for her age and because she’s a diabetic. But getting the vaccine has been difficult for her.

“I just can’t get in,” she said. “Everything says they’re not scheduling or they’re full. It’s just a real concern and it’s not only me. I think there’s a lot of seniors out there getting very frustrated because we were told we were the highest priority and now they keep throwing other groups in.”

According to the Ohio Department of Health’s website Phase 1B focuses on getting vaccines to senior citizens. It’s also available for those with underlying health conditions.

Vaccines have already been rolled out for healthcare providers as part of Phase 1A and, this week, Ohio started vaccinating about 91,000 teachers statewide.

“I know teachers are going to be added, which I was a teacher for 35-and-a-half years,” Miller said. “I understand why they want that but if they take as many vaccinations as what we have teachers there’s not going to be anything left for seniors.”

According to ODH the state of Ohio gets 168,000 doses of vaccine each week. Those are then distributed to 2,900 providers statewide, like hospitals, grocery stores and health departments.

Right now, though, not all providers are getting doses. ODH says the number of providers that receive doses and the number of doses themselves fluctuates week-to-week. On top of that, ODH is encouraging providers not to set aside amounts for different groups.

“My neighbor, she’s 77,” Miller said. “[She] had an appointment, they canceled it. They said they’d call her back and they’ve never called her back.”

ODH says it does not control vaccine appointments, saying that comes from the individual provider.

“The vaccine providers is incredibly scarce and we simply don’t have enough to vaccinate every person eligible in that week,” ODH Press Secretary Melanie Amato said. “As more people become eligible to receive the vaccine, less of it will be available to others until production from the manufactures can increase.”

The Ohio Department of Health says it will move to a combination hybrid style of both small and mass vaccination sites in a couple of weeks when it hopes to get more vaccine.

It also encourages people to contact their local healthcare provider or use the map on its website for more information.

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