Oglethorpe County Health Department

REMINDER - Free COVID vaccines TOMORROW at Huntington Villas (morning, starting at 10am) and Azalea Village (afternoon, starting around 2pm) in Crawford. No appointment needed, walk-ups are welcome.

FREE COVID Vaccines / Thursday, May 20th / Huntington Villa/Forest Hills & Azalea Village / NO APPT NEEDED! The Oglethorpe County Health Department will be offering FREE COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, May 20th in two locations: at the Huntington Villa/Forest Hills community, 25 Huntington Lane in Crawford starting at 10am; and at Azalea Village, 25 Azalea Cir in Crawford, starting at 2pm. No appointment required - walk-ups are welcome! It only takes a few minutes to protect yourself, so stop by on Thursday for a free COVID-19 vaccine.

BEWARE OF COVID VACCINE SCAMS! While there is high interest in many people obtaining COVID vaccines, there have been reports of people falling victim to online or phone scams. You can’t pay to put your name on a list to get the vaccine. You can’t pay to get early access to the vaccine. You can’t buy a COVID-19 vaccination through the mail, online, or in stores. No one from a legitimate vaccine distribution site will call to ask for your Social Security number, bank account, or credit card number. Medicare will not call beneficiaries to offer COVID-19 related products, services, or benefit review. For more info on these types of scams please visit: http://bit.ly/GAAttyGenCOVIDScam or http://bit.ly/FBICOVIDVaxScams If you think you have been the victim of a vaccine scam, report it to local police or the FBI (1-800-CALL-FBI).

Approved COVID-19 vaccines can cause mild side effects similar to those associated with other vaccines. They are temporary, and signs that your body is building protection against the virus! For local vaccine info: https://bit.ly/NEHDCOVIDVaccine DPH Video: https://youtu.be/gG-42I-aA04

Don’t hesitate to vaccinate! The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines teach our bodies to fight off the COVID-19 virus, and have demonstrated 95% effectiveness in preventing infection. For local vaccine info: https://bit.ly/NEHDCOVIDVaccine DPH Video: https://youtu.be/dGfImoIbKuc

Yesterday, we sent messages to over 37,000 people on our COVID-19 vaccination waiting list, and we received a 50% response rate in less than 24 hours. We will continue to send these messages regularly to keep you informed of any updates related to COVID-19 vaccine availability and allow you the opportunity to update your contact information or indicate that you no longer require an appointment. Please note that although we do ask for contact information, we do not request banking information, credit card numbers, or Social Security Numbers for this purpose. If you submitted a pre-registration form but did not receive the message, please check your "Junk" and "Spam" email folders and be sure to add "[email protected]" and "[email protected]" to your contacts list to ensure our emails reach your inbox.

Georgia remains in phase 1A of the COVID Vaccine rollout - healthcare, first responders, and those 65 or older. Locally, the Northeast Health District has begun vaccinations and is working our way through those that have pre-registered (over 45,000 have done so thus far) and we ask for patience as it will take some time to work through everyone. If you are in the 1A group, and you have not pre-registered, please complete the form (https://bit.ly/NEHDNonHealthcareVaccine) and we will call you back as soon as we reach you in the list. You may also call 706.340.0996 and speak to someone, but be patient, the lines are overwhelmed often and you may experience long hold times, etc. For more general information on the vaccine visit our website: https://bit.ly/NEHDCOVIDVaccine

The Oglethorpe County Health Department is now providing COVID-19 vaccines BY APPOINTMENT to health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, adults age 65 and older, and first responders. Appointments are required. To make an appointment, fill out a pre-registration form here: http://bit.ly/NEHDCOVIDVaxRegistration After you have submitted the pre-registration form, we will contact you to make an appointment if you are eligible. You will be called back based... on the order in which your form was received. It may be several weeks before we are able to call you. Please answer your phone and be aware that we may call from a non-local number. If you do not answer, we will attempt to leave a message. Please make sure your voicemail is set up and that your mailbox is not full. Priority for local appointments will be given to residents of Oglethorpe County. If you are unable to pre-register yourself on the website, you may call 706-340-0996 for assistance. Please be aware that due to high call volumes, hold times may be long. Operators and health department staff are NOT able to schedule appointments; they can only assist with pre-registration. We are limited in how many people we can schedule at a time by our vaccine supply, and it may be several weeks before you can get an appointment. Please be patient and trust that we will call to schedule you as soon as possible. Additional COVID-19 vaccine providers can be found here: https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-vaccine

All Northeast Health District Health Departments and Clinics will be CLOSED on Monday, January 18th in observance of MLK Day. Normal hours will resume on Tuesday, January 19th. Have a Safe Holiday!

ATTENTION - Important COVID Vaccine Scheduling Information! Our COVID hotline and website are being overwhelmed by the number of people seeking to get the COVID vaccine. Please be patient, and if the phone lines or website is slow, please try again later. If you have completed the website pre-registration for COVID Vaccine (currently only serving 1A - healthcare, first responders and those 65+), we are calling people back in the order they were received - BUT - be sure to ans...wer the call! The calls may come from many different numbers, area codes etc. They may not show as a local call. There have been MANY, MANY THOUSANDS of people who are needing to be called, so please be patient as we make our way through the list. If you are in the 1A group, and you want to schedule - you can complete the form on our website (https://bit.ly/NEHDNonHealthcareVaccine) and we will call you back in a few days. You may also call our hotline at 706.340.0996 - be aware wait times may be very long, and we are experiencing issues with the provider dropping calls. Remember - vaccine availability is limited in this first phase, so it will take time to get everyone scheduled and vaccinated. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to get everyone taken care of. See more

On Wednesday, the Northeast Health District gave the 2,000th COVID-19 vaccination to healthcare workers! Dr. Farris Johnson, an Athens physician, and Jason Lewis, Oglethorpe County EMS Director, were among the first to receive the vaccine. For more info on the vaccine: https://bit.ly/NEHDCOVIDVaccine

All Northeast Health District Clinics and Offices will be CLOSED on Friday, January 1st for New Year's Day. Normal operations will resume on Monday, January 4th. Have a Safe, Healthy New Year!

The main phone and fax lines are currently down at the Oglethorpe County Health Department and will not be fixed until AT LEAST Wednesday.