In a statement released earlier today, Paris City Mayor Steve Clifford addressed ongoing concerns about COVID-19 vaccinations, including how the community can get the vaccine.
From Paris City Mayor Steve Clifford:
“There are a large number of people in our community who wish to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been in limited supply, and the demand for the vaccine has far outstripped our supply.
(The) vaccine has been sporadically available at certain pharmacies, Paris Regional Medical Center, and in the offices of a few private healthcare providers. This has resulted in a chaotic situation where people are unable to obtain accurate information about how to obtain the vaccine. Hundreds of phone calls and hundreds of emails are being received daily at local pharmacies and at the Lamar County Health Department.
These facilities are being overwhelmed by these communications and are frequently unable to respond to them all. Our community needs a coordinated information center to give out current information about the vaccine. We also need a master waiting list for those who want to obtain the vaccine as well as an organized method for administering the shots.
For this reason, the City of Paris is partnering with the Lamar County Health Department to set up a COVID-19 call center. This center will answer questions about vaccine availability and will also be able to place people’s names on the master waiting list for the vaccine when it becomes available. We have also set up an online registration portal where Lamar County residents can sign up to be placed on the waiting list without going through the call center.
We will enter the names of everyone who has contacted the Lamar County Health Department requesting the vaccine on this master waiting list. Additionally, the City of Paris and the Lamar County Health Department are establishing a regional drive-through site for administering the vaccine. Our logistical services for vaccine administration will also be offered to local pharmacies if they want assistance in administering the vaccine.
We have learned from recent communications with state authorities that regional vaccination centers which demonstrate an ability to efficiently administer the vaccine will be prioritized to receive larger quantities of the vaccine. We anticipate that this will allow the Health Department to receive many more doses of the vaccine in the near future so that a large number of our residents can be vaccinated.
The online portal to sign up for the COVID-19 vaccination waiting list can be found by clicking here or visiting https://paristexas.gov/covidvaccinelist.
The call center is currently being organized. The number for the center will be posted when it is active in a couple of days.”