Broome County Begins COVID Vaccination Clinics

The Broome County Health Department is holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics January 7 & 8 for healthcare workers, nursing home residents and staff and public health workers that have not already been inoculated by United Health Services or other certified providers.

Officials announced January 6 the local health department received 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week.

In his weekly update, Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said getting vaccines to residents as fast as possible is his number one goal.

The County is currently burdened with hundreds of people, many of them healthcare workers, in quarantine, a continued triple-digit rise in new cases and almost daily additions to the COVID-19 death toll.  On January 6, the county reported 106 people in the hospital. All that puts a strain on medical workers as well as Broome’s contact tracers.  Broome and Chenango Counties are among regions in the state advising residents that there may be a lag between their testing positive for the coronavirus and being contacted by a health official.

Anyone who is not feeling well is encouraged to get a test for COVID-19 and to self-quarantine until they are tested, get the results back and receive instructions from health officials.

Broome County’s mobile rapid testing site is set up for two weeks at Recreation Park on Binghamton’s West Side. Executive Garnar says in just the first day of operation at the new site this week, the county conducted up to 200 COVID tests.  Health officials say some of that rush to be tested may be a result of becoming sick following ill-advised trips and visits with family and friends for the holidays.