In addition to healthcare workers and first responders, people who are 70 years of age or older, day care providers, teachers, grocery store workers and others are now able to sign up to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in Park County.

More than 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the county as of Tuesday, according to Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin.

Following a Wyoming Department of Health distribution plan, public health officials are currently offering vaccines to two groups of people, formally known as tier 1A and 1B. The vaccine is free, voluntary and is provided to anyone who meets the criteria established by the Department of Health, Billin said.

The prioritized lists of eligible recipients currently include law enforcement personnel and healthcare workers, such as those at hospitals, public health, dentist offices, inpatient treatment centers, medical clinics and pharmacies, along with EMS personnel, home healthcare providers and both residents and workers at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Also eligible are workers at group homes, Wyoming Department of Family Services caseworkers, funeral home operators, K-12 teachers and staffers, child care providers, grocery store and other food supply chain employees, and U.S. Postal Service and other delivery companies — along with people ages 70 and up.

“Senior living locations, long term care facilities, etc. are a high priority,” Kelly Croft, a public information officer with Park County Public Health, said in a news release last week. “We will soon be reaching out to seniors and higher at-risk groups.”

Those within the two eligible tiers can visit www.parkcounty.us/CoronaVirus.html to sign up for a vaccination clinic, download a consent form, see the full list of people included in Tier 1A and Tier 1B and find some more information about the vaccines.

Public health clinics scheduled for this week and next week at the Park County Fairgrounds in Powell filled up quickly. As of midday Wednesday, the first available time slot in Powell was on Thursday, Jan. 21, but additional dates were being added, with clinics starting on Jan. 19 at the Cody Auditorium.

In time, “everyone will have an opportunity to get the COVID vaccine if they want it,” said Park County Public Health Nurse Manager Bill Crampton, but “it will take time. Please be patient.”

Crampton added that people can choose to wait and get a vaccine later without having to worry about missing out.

“If someone decides later that they want it and avoided their first opportunity, that is not a problem,” he said.

Given the thousands of people who are currently eligible and the limited number of doses currently available, it will take some time before vaccinations are offered to additional groups, Billin said. However, local health officials expect the next tier, Tier 1C, will expand eligibility to people 65 and up, people over the age of 16 who have medical conditions placing them at a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19 and an as-yet-to-be determined group of “essential workers.”

“The logistics of this are incredibly complex,” Billin added of the distribution effort.

Those who received Pfizer’s vaccine in the first wave of immunizations last month are now receiving their second doses, 21 days later. The county has also begun receiving shipments of another vaccine developed by Moderna, which similarly requires two doses separated by 28 days.

“Park County receives weekly shipments of vaccine, and different storage requirements between Pfizer and Moderna add to the complexity,” Billin said. He also noted that, once the vaccines are thawed out, they must be used with a set period of time. That makes it important for accurate scheduling.

“It takes a lot of planning to have enough vaccine at each clinic and not to waste doses,” he said.

Anyone with questions about the vaccine distribution or who thinks they were missed can call Park County Public Health at 307-527-8570.