With new case numbers of the COVID-19 virus slowing drastically in the past several weeks, The Med Center at Albany has moved its vaccination efforts back to the hospital location

According to Laura Belcher, the Administrator at the hospital, the multi-day per week clinic that had been hosted at The Welcome Center has been discontinued due to the slowing down of people wanting to get the vaccine.

She pointed out, however, that vaccines would continue to be offered at The Medical Center at Albany location in west Albany.

During a brief telephone interview with the Clinton County News Monday afternoon, Belcher said that as of Monday morning, she could report that during the clinic, they had administered the vaccine to just over 5,000 people.

The local vaccination clinic had been operated as a regional vaccination location, and any resident of Kentucky who met the age and health restrictions, had been able to receive a shot here.

She said that at this time, she wasn’t able to give firm numbers as to the breakdown of those 5,000 patients, in regards to how many were Clinton County residents and how many were residents of other Kentucky counties.

In addition to the clinic offered by The Medical Center at Albany, there were other vaccination opportunities available here in the past several months, including one held for personnel with the Clinton County School system and vaccinations that have been offered by the Clinton County Health Department, local pharmacies and other health care facilities.

Vaccine numbers listed by some government agencies indicate, however, that the percentage of Clinton County residents who have received a shot are running somewhat behind the rest of the state.

While is isn’t certain just how dependable the figures are, considering the problems agencies have had getting accurate updates, the numbers on Monday for Clinton County were not as encouraging as many would hope.

According to statistics that were available from the Center for Disease Control on Monday of this week, Clinton County, as of Sunday, had a total of 2,432 Clinton County residents who were fully vaccinated.

That would represent just 23.8 percent of the total population in Clinton County of 10,218 residents of all ages.

Those 2,423 vaccinated residents represent 28.8 percent of the local population who are over 18 years of age.

As for the group of residents who are most susceptible to the COVID-19 virus, those who are 65 years of age and older, there were 1,109 residents here in that age group who have been fully vaccinated, or 55 percent of the residents in that category.

Belcher added that moving the vaccination efforts back to the local hospital location was deemed to be the best for everyone involved at this stage of the hopefully slowing down COVID-19 pandemic.

She also noted that obtaining an appointment to receive a vaccination involved the same steps for local residents as has been the case since the local clinic first began offering shots.

Appointments for getting the vaccine are still available, and may be obtained by texting SHOT to 606-387-3646 or by emailing AlbanyVaccine@mchealth.net, or by calling 606-387-3646 and leaving a message.

Vaccines are also now available again at the Clinton County Health Department, as was confirmed to the Clinton County News last week by LCDHD spokesperson Amy Tomlinson.

Vaccination appointments through the Clinton County Health Department, or more information about the vaccines being offered and the vaccination dates and times, may be obtained by calling 606-387-5711.