Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office issued an appeal for both medical and nonmedical volunteers to help accelerate the state’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to eligible recipients.

The Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps is seeking medical and nonmedical volunteers to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts at more than 50 points of vaccine dispensing (PODs) locations statewide.

The PODs are vaccination events being scheduled at larger venues to supplement the vaccination clinics being conducted at every county health department.

The OKMRC serves as a coordinating and vetting center for volunteers willing to serve during major emergencies and disasters when full-time emergency and nonemergency medical personnel maybe overwhelmed.

“The OKMRC helps fill those gaps with volunteers who’ve been organized, trained and assigned to assist where their expertise is best applied,” Lezlie Carter, OKMRC state coordinator said.

Any Oklahoma resident or nonresident who is employed in Oklahoma can apply to volunteer in a number of medical and nonmedical capacities, including vaccinator, form review, runners, elderly assistance and other duties.

Background checks are conducted and approved volunteers are contacted when an event in their area is planned.

OKMRC volunteers served in 52 Oklahoma counties last week.

“This is a huge, unprecedented effort to vaccinate the majority of our population of nearly 4 million Oklahomans. We need as much help as we can get from our community to make it possible,” Carter said.

“When you become a volunteer with the OKMRC, you join hundreds of other citizens involved in the safety, security, health, and well-being in their communities who are ready to make a difference when help is needed most”

Frustrations Continue

Unfortunately, the challenges surrounding an unprecedented national and worldwide mass innoculation program are nearly universal, as the hundreds of millions of people who currently qualify to receive the shot compete for limited quantities and limited vaccination slots.

While the quantity of vaccines delivered to states is a federal decision, each state is charged with developing and administering its own program to get the shots out to those who qualify

Oklahoma’s distribution program ranked in the top 10 among all states for the second consecutive week in terms of the number of shots administered per 100,000 population.

The state health department had administered 278,151 total shots as of Friday morning, or 6,759 per 100,000 population.

That rate of delivery puts the state ninth in the nation.

Oklahoma follows Alaska at 9,820 per 100,000; West Virginia at 9,349; District of Columbia, 7,808; North Dakota, 7,774; Connecticut, 7,425; South Dakota, 7,390; New Mexico, 7,271, and Vermont, 6,825.

Kingfisher County Health Department ramped up its innoculation schedule to 60 appointments per day starting last week, a process that Administrative Assitant Jennifer Boyle said is “going pretty smooth so far.”

All state residents are asked to register for the vaccine at the online portal at vaccinate.oklahoma.gov. Once registered, those who qualify for a vaccine will be notified via email when appointments are available.

Appointments also are booked through the portal and can’t be made through phone calls to your local health department.

Boyle asked that all questions regarding the vaccine be addressed to the state information hotline, which can be accessed by dialing 211 on any cell phone or landline.

She also asked that family members and loved ones assist the elderly or others without computer access or know-how to sign up for the vaccine.

“The same email address can be used for any number of registrations, so if you want to register for some of your family members who don’t have access to email, you can do that,” Boyle said.

Currently, fi rst responders and other health care other health care workers and any resident over the age of 65 is eligible to be vaccinated, a total population group that far exceeds available vaccines as well as available appointment times.

Those who have received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine will schedule an appointment the same way for their second dose, Boyle said.

“They need to continue to watch the portal for an open appointment and if it’s their second dose they will need to be watching for appointments labeled `booster/second dose:” she said.

Cases Down, Deaths Up

While active cases in Kingfisher and surrounding counties have dropped over the course of the last week, the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 has increased.

Kingfisher County now has 16 COVID-related deaths, after the death of a Hennessey female in the 50-64 age group was reported on the state online database Thursday.

Deaths in Kingfisher County are attributed to the following zip code areas: Dover 2; Hennessey 5; Kingfisher 5; Okarche 4.

Active cases declined in the county to 129, with 1,762 confirmed cases and 1,617 recoveries.

Statistics for surrounding counties include:

Canadian County: 13,384 confirmed cases; 59 deaths; 12,406 recovered.

Garfield County: 6,447 confirmed cases; 55 deaths; 5,965 recovered.

Logan County: 3,374 confirmed cases; 17 deaths; 2,981 recovered.

Kingfisher County: 1,762 confirmed cases; 16 deaths; 1,617 recovered.

Blaine County: 811 confirmed cases; 5 deaths; 743 recovered.