By Haley Hale
Arkansascovid.com
Woodruff County reported about 20% of its adult population as fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of March 31, the highest vaccination rate in the Arkansas Delta.
Debra Neal, administrator of the Woodruff County Health Unit, said that demand for the vaccine has been pretty high. “Lots of people want it. You got some that don’t, but we have more that do than don’t,” she said.
Neal said all pharmacies were eligible to give the vaccine, but only one wanted to do it: ARcare Pharmacy in Augusta.
Tammie Watkins, a certified pharmacy technician, said “a lot of times we get a hundred a week, but then we’ve started getting the second doses, so it varies.” Typically, they will receive 100 first and 100 second COVID-19 doses per week.
“At one time we had liek 800 people on our [waiting] list, which has went down considerably since other places are getting it to be able to give now, but we still have several hundred,” Watkins said.
In addition to ARcare, Watkins said the clinic in Augusta is now able to give vaccines. Statewide, 17.3% of the adult population was fully vaccinated as of March 31, which put Woodruff County above the state average.