(Newser)
– An Arizona county has simplified its requirements to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 – you only need to be over 18 years old. Gila County opened its vaccines two weeks ago, in part because it has one of the lowest dose rates in the state, CBS. reports. Health officials also received approval from Arizona last week to get vaccinated at a driving clinic. “Before that, we were struggling to find enough people to make appointments,” said Michael O’Driscoll, the county’s director of public health. “Thus, the state gave me permission to offer it to any resident 18 years of age or older.” A county survey had shown that half the population of 56,000 people would be vaccinated if possible; now a quarter of residents have received at least one shot.
Now, officials have begun offering vaccines to everyone working in the small county east of Phoenix, for CNN. A strong communication effort to let people know there were vaccines available, essentially treating the pandemic like a fire, worked well, officials said. “What we did was set the pandemic exactly like we would during our fire season,” O’Driscoll said. “We set up our incident order very similar to this one.” People from various communities and county departments helped vaccinate residents. A nursing official at the Copper Regional Medical Center said there is still a desire to wait among young people, especially to receive the shots, which she said could hamper efforts to secure the herd’s immunity. Gila County reported 3,885 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 154 deaths as of Thursday. (Read more stories about the coronavirus vaccine).