The Guthrie County Public and Environmental Health Department is expecting 400 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to enter the county next week.

Director Jotham Arber says the first doses of the vaccine will be used for high-risk individuals such as health-care workers and long-term care residents. He recommends that those who have tested positive for the virus in the past three months wait to get the vaccine because of the limited availability of the first phase. Arber spoke about the safety of the new vaccine.

“No virus is going into the body. It is just an [Messenger RNA] code that says ‘Hey, I want you to produce the spike protein that’s on the virus internally.’ Our hope is that it’s actually a better type of vaccine. You’re not going to see as many allergic reactions because the body’s doing all the work. With some vaccines if you give too high a dose, you could potentially cause some really nasty stuff.  This would be more of an organic vaccine I would call it. There’s not a lot of stuff going into this. It should be a much safer vaccine in the long haul.”

Because of the limited viability of the vaccine once vials are open, the department is building a list of at-risk older individuals who are vulnerable to the virus, but not in a long-term care facility, who could receive any doses that aren’t used immediately. For more information or to check if you or a family member would qualify, contact the Guthrie County Department of Public Health at 641-747-3972.