ASHLAND — The Ashland County Health Department is prepared to aid in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine as it arrives in Ohio.
The ACHD recently installed an ultra-cold freezer, which reaches temperatures cold enough to store the vaccine.
The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, must be stored at -70 degrees Celsius. The first doses were distributed to select hospitals in Ohio on Monday.
“Don’t give up. Please don’t give up,” said ACHD director of nursing Shirley Bixby. “With the vaccine coming in, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope.”
The freezer arrived the day after Ashland County was placed on the state’s “watch list,” based on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. The designation means Ashland County is considered at risk for reaching a “purple” status, or level 4 public emergency, in the color-coded system.
“They were 100 percent accurate. We’ve had a large increase in cases, and it’s very concerning,” Bixby said. “With the increased cases we’re seeing, there’s increased spread, and with that increased spread, it’s more difficult on long-term care facilities to keep their residents safe.
“That’s where I’m concerned. The older populations become more vulnerable, and it’s harder to protect the people we’re trying to protect.”
Ashland County Commissioners ordered the freezer about three months ago, Commissioner Denny Bittle estimated.
All three Commissioners supported the purchase of the ultra-cold freezer for $7,795 and its alarm for an additional $1,020 with CARES Act funding.
“I had looked into it, and talked to Mike (Welch) and Jim (Justice). I said, we need to be prepared,” Bittle said. “There wasn’t anything out there (COVID-19) vaccine-related that wasn’t required to be frozen.”
The freezer arrived just in time. Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday the first COVID-19 vaccines were being distributed to 10 hospitals around the state.
Neither Ashland County nor Richland or Crawford County was included in the first distribution, but the state expects to receive 660,000 doses from Pfizer by the end of December in the first wave of the recently-approved vaccine.
“Really excited that we are prepared for that. I don’t think the timing could be any better because the discussion is happening now on how we distribute it,” Bittle said. “I’ve not heard any numbers on how smaller counties will get the vaccine yet.”
