Health department answers vaccine-related questions from St. Clair County residents

Viewers of Sunday’s livestreamed COVID-19 briefing on the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency Facebook page had a long list of vaccine-related questions for Sam Bierman, St. Clair County Health Department emergency response coordinator.

Here are her answers:

Q: Why don’t you turn away people who show up early for appointments?

A: “We go through the line and anyone that we determine to be there too early, we do re-route them to help prevent any traffic issues.”

Q: If I have a vaccine appointment at 11 a.m. and I’ve been told to show up only a few minutes before, what happens if I show up at 10:55 and the line is long and I don’t make it to the checkpoint until noon because I sat in the line. Will I be turned away for being late?

A: “No you will not. If you have an appointment for that day, that is the most important aspect of it. If you are late because you are sitting in line to get to our first checkpoint, that is not a problem.”

Q: How can you go to the 16-64 age group when you have not finished 1A or 1B? We applied in early January and have not received any notification, and we’re both over 65.

A: “I’m sorry that you have not been reached out to yet. We have two numbers that you are able to call to speak to someone in person: 618-825-4447 and 618-509-6010.”

Q: If you are with 6 people or more and all have had both shots and it’s been after the two-week period, can we gather for dinner at one of the houses, not social distance and not wear masks?

A: “At this point, both CDC and IDPH are recommending that even if you have received both vaccines, that you do still need to practice the 3 W’s, which are washing your hands, wearing your mask and still watching your distance.”

Q: Has there been any reports so far of people catching COVID-19 after they have been vaccinated?

A: “We have heard of a few, yes. We are looking at that if someone does become positive in our contact tracing.”

Q: We got our first shot of Pfizer at the Fairgrounds (Feb. 27). Do we have to get our second shot at the same location, or can we sign up at our hospital or Walgreens?

A: “We do recommend that you get your second vaccination, if possible, the same place you got your first. But it is not required.”

Q: Will the health department send an email with a new code when it’s time to sign up for my second shot, or can I use the same link and code I used the first one?

A: “You will receive an email with a new code to sign up.”

Q: Given the large numbers of people getting vaccines, are there any plans in the works to open additional sites?

A: “Yes. We hope to have more facilities that are giving vaccine, but it is all vaccine dependent. We have to wait for there to be enough vaccine to be able to distribute it out to other pharmacies.”

Q: Why can’t the QR bar code and name be matched with the name and the date of the scheduled vaccine be done even if a person shows up early?

A: ”If you have an appointment for a specific day, that is the day we that have allocated a vaccine for you. If you have an appointment on Monday and for whatever reason you can’t make it on Monday, and you decide to show up on Tuesday, we will not have a vaccine allocated for you that day. If you aren’t able to make your scheduled appointment, please do not show up on another day that does work for you without speaking with someone to make sure that we can get you an appointment.”

A: When will you start checking appointment times at the gate instead of 3/4 of the way through the line?

Q: “We are currently doing that. The whole point of that is to keep the traffic off of the main road. We are going through and anyone that we deem to be too early, we are asking to leave the line so we can get traffic flowing. That’s at Checkpoint A, which is when you are immediately pulling into the facility.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2021 at 7:00 AM.