OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Nebraska health officials are trying to get creative when it comes to answering vaccine questions. The trouble is — there are many more questions than state officials have answers to.
Nebraska health officials spent 17-minutes this afternoon on Facebook taking questions when it comes to vaccinating those who are 75-and-older.
Jeri Weberg-Bryce, The Immunization Program manager said, “Can the vaccine give me COVID? No, it does not. It helps you create antibodies.”
Residents and staff of long-term care facilities started getting vaccinated last week.
State officials believe by tomorrow 35,000 of the 50,000 individuals will have their first dose.
Here’s the thing though, there are 130,000 Nebraskans who are not in long-term care 130,000 who are 75-and older – who is next in line. But the website to sign-up isn’t ready yet.
Angie Ling, DHHS Incident commander said, “The website won’t be live for 2-weeks. It will be for all different phases.”
In the meantime, the Health and Human Services Incident Commander recommends calling your health care provider or health department or the state hotline — with the understanding that those teams are busy so you may not get through quickly.
Jeri Weberg-Bryce said, “Once seniors are vaccinated, can we go back to how it was? The key here is to remain vigilant in protecting yourself and those around you.”
Some states have been plagued by seniors camping out and waiting in long-lines or had websites crashing because they were overwhelmed.
The Facebook live from Nebraska officials didn’t address that. They did say that some places in western Nebraska are already vaccinating those that are 75-and-older.
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