Expanded Vaccine Distribution

To our Albany County Community:

Albany County continues to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to our community members with the help of our partners at Albany County Public Health and the University of Wyoming. In the last month, we have focused on vaccinating our older community members and as we receive additional vaccines, we are progressing through Phase 1b of the State of Wyoming’s vaccination plan.

Starting Monday, February 15, 2021, Albany County will move to subgroups 4 – 6 of Phase 1b which expands scheduling to people who are 65 years of age and older. These subgroups also include mental health professionals, K‑12 education staff and childcare providers. If you are 65 or older, a mental health professional, a K‑12 education staff member or a childcare service provider, you can schedule your vaccine by calling 307−766−8222, Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. 

Currently, Albany County is receiving about 500 vaccines a week and continues to schedule and administer vaccines as quickly as we are receiving them. This last week, Walmart and Pole Mountain pharmacies also received limited amounts of vaccines and began offering the vaccine according to our county’s distribution phase. With more sites able to offer the vaccine, the closer we get to our goal of protecting our community through immunization. 

In Albany County, we are seeing a high vaccine acceptance rate among the populations who have had the opportunity to get their vaccine. While more people are choosing to get the vaccine, we may see that progress looks slower than in other neighboring areas. The increased acceptance rate is promising to our healthcare system and signifies a significant step towards returning to normalcy. At Ivinson, regardless of immunization status, we will continue to require face coverings and practice all COVID-19 safety precautions that have been implemented to protect our patients, staff and visitors. We recognize that as vaccine rollout is still in the initial phases, that safety precautions are not yet a thing of the past.

We are continuing to encourage individuals to sign up for My Health Connection (MHC), Ivinson’s patient portal to be placed on the Albany County vaccine list. Individuals with a MHC account will receive local updates about vaccine distribution and notifications when a vaccine is available to them. 

I would like to thank our community partners that have made this progress possible. As a community, we have never attempted such a large feat of mass vaccinations. I thank you for your patience as we fine tune our process to best serve all residents of Albany County.