YACHATS – Lincoln County Public Health and medical volunteers are bringing a Covid-19 vaccine clinic to the Yachats pavilion from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The Yachats clinic will repeat the second Tuesday of February and March as well.
The clinic will offer all three types of vaccines, booster shots for people who whose last shot was more than five months ago, and pediatric vaccines for children as young as five.
Appointments are available through the health department’s website, but walk-ins will also be accepted. Covid-19 testing will also be available, but requires people to register via the health department website.
For now, the county is transitioning its clinics away from the mass vaccination site at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Newport to regularly scheduled smaller clinics in local communities.
It will have a clinic Thursday at the Toledo Public Library and then repeat that the second Thursday of each month.
The next vaccine clinic in Waldport is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23 and then repeats on the fourth Sunday of February and March.
A full list of clinics and appointment schedules is on the LCPH website.
Although the large clinic at the fairgrounds is now closed, there is a Federal Emergency Management Agency bus parked there now offering vaccinations from noon to 7 p.m. daily through Jan. 20.
Because of the surge in Covid-19 cases linked to the omicron variant, health officials are urging residents to get vaccinated, especially with a booster shot if it’s been five months since a last dose, to wear masks, limit social gatherings, and to get tested if you think you may be ill. Lincoln County still has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state at 83 percent, but its booster rate ranges from 9 percent to 62 percent, depending on the age group.
Vaccines are also offered at nine pharmacies in Lincoln County and Samaritan Health Services’ two clinics in Newport and Lincoln City also have first, second and booster doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. A list of pharmacies and their appointment procedures is also on the LCPH website.
Samaritan is also offering drive-through Covid-19 testing on its hospital campuses in Newport and Lincoln City.
While Covid-19 cases have exploded across Oregon, the outbreak caused by the omicron variant is not spreading equally – for now. According to an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive of Oregon Health Authority Covid-19 cases across Oregon, there was just one new case reported in the 97498 Zip code covering the Yachats area between. 28 and Jan. 5. BY comparison, there were 41 cases during that same time in the two Newport-area Zip codes and 74 in the two Lincoln City area Zip code, according to the analysis.