Drew Zimmerman
QUINCY — U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, visited Adams County’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Oakley-Lindsay Plaza on Monday, which he said was “the model for the state and for my Congressional district.”
As he heads back to Washington this week, LaHood said the two things on his mind will be to get COVID-19 vaccines produced and have them distributed where they’re needed as quickly as possible and to get as many people vaccinated as possible so business reopen and students can return to school.
“This is should not be a partisan issue,” LaHood said. “This is about getting the country back on track, and I look forward to continue to be engaged and take the messages I hear today in Quincy and Adams County back to Washington D.C.”
Before his visit to the Oakley-Lindsay Center, LaHood also met with the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce at Dick Brothers Brewery at noon. He later visited Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing as a guest lecturer.
So far, LaHood said he has visited four vaccination clinics in his district but Adams County sets the gold standard in terms of its operation and how quickly residents are receiving vaccines. Moving forward, he said it will be important to collaborate with the Biden administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure vaccines continue to be distributed efficiently.
Adams County Health Department Administrator Jerrod Welch said the county has distributed over 40,000 COVID-19 vaccinations.
As a mass vaccination site, Welch said the county has been pushing Johnson and Johnson vaccines, which require only one dose. However, the county is hoping to schedule a Pfizer vaccine clinic in the near future for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Welch said he is unsure of the demand once the vaccine becomes available to the Phase 1C demographic, which would cover individuals between the ages of 16 and 64 with underlying medical conditions. Eligible Phase 1C essential workers would include the fields of transportation and logistics, food service, housing construction and finance, information technology, communications, energy, law, media, public safety, and public health, according to the CDC.
“We have the capacity there so as long as we have the supply and the demand and they match up, we can push over 2,000 (doses) a day,” Welch said.
