Extended Hours Offered for COVID Vaccines

DRESDEN (March 22) – The Weakley County Health Department is offering extended hours to increase access to COVID-19 vaccination in the community.

Now through April 2, the Weakley County Health Department COVID-19 vaccination site at the Dresden Civic Center, located at 589 Evergreen St., Dresden, is open to provide vaccinations from 2-7 p.m. on Tuesdays and 7 a.m. until noon on Thursdays each week.

“We’re eager to offer these additional opportunities for people to get their COVID-19 vaccinations in a way that works more conveniently with their schedules,” said Weakley County Health Director Tracy Byrd. “The more people in Weakley County who choose to get their vaccinations, the sooner our community can return to normal day-to-day activities.”

Weakley County is now vaccinating residents in Phases 1 and 2 of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan, along with anyone age 55 and older. The Weakley County Health Department offers COVID-19 vaccination by appointment. To book an appointment, visit Vaccinate.tn.gov and click the blue “Proceed to COVID-19 questionnaire” button at the bottom of the page to start registration. Call 731-364-2258 or 866-442-5301 for help scheduling a vaccination.

Phase 2 includes those who work in settings that have experienced high numbers of COVID-19 infection clusters, and whose work is critical to continuing vital state operations. These groups include:

• Child welfare and adult protective services agency workers with direct public exposure
• Commercial food manufacturing workers
• Commercial agriculture workers involved in production and safety of food supplies and commodities
• Corrections system workers not previously covered under Phase 1a1
• Public transit drivers and maintenance personnel
• People working in other transportation, public infrastructure, telecommunications and utility industries.

By April 5, all Tennesseans ages 16 and over will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Eligibility for those in Phase 3 of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan will run concurrently with age-based eligibility. Phase 3 includes residents and staff members of congregate living facilities including college dormitories, group homes and shelters and those in the corrections system. Phase 3 also includes grocery store workers who were not eligible for vaccination based on previous age or risk-based categories.

More than 1.3 million Tennesseans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine:

• 17.5 percent of Tennessee’s population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
• Tennessee is ranked 12th in the nation for the percentage of second doses completed.

Equity is a cross-cutting consideration of Tennessee’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan. To date, 8.7 percent of Black Tennesseans have been vaccinated, above the national average of 7.6 percent.

However, TDH data show uptake of the vaccines in Tennessee remains low across all racial groups, especially in rural areas. Many rural Tennessee county health departments are seeing only a fraction of their daily COVID-19 vaccination appointments filled. West Tennessee counties have only about 20 percent of their daily appointments booked. East Tennessee has about 50 percent availability, and Middle Tennessee has 80 percent of their daily appointments filled.

The Weakley County Health Department reminds all Weakley County residents that in addition to vaccination, wearing a face mask, maintaining social distance and getting tested when exposed or sick are critical to controlling the pandemic.

Tennessee’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan focuses on those most at risk for serious illness and death from COVID-19. Learn what phase of the vaccination plan you’re in at https://covid19.tn.gov/covid-19-vaccines/eligibility/.