Officials from the Cook County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic announced today that planning efforts are underway to provide COVID-19 vaccines to county residents. 

“Local public health is working closely with staff at the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, Grand Portage Health Services and the Minnesota Department of Health to plan for the phased distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Cook County,” said EOC Incident Co-commander and Public Health Supervisor Grace Grinager. 

The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Cook County last week and were administered to health care personnel at North Shore Health and the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic as part of Phase 1A distribution efforts, which include health care personnel and long-term care residents and their essential caregivers. 

All Cook County residents over age 18 will have access to a vaccine. Updates will be provided as additional vaccines become available, including information on how eligible people can get vaccinated. Information will be available through media releases and on the Cook County COVID 19 hub site at www.cookcountycovid19.org.

“There is not a list that residents need to get on to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Sawtooth Mountain Clinic CEO Kate Surbaugh.  Updates on vaccine availability will come from local and tribal public health and the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic.

“A vaccine for COVID-19 is only one of the ways to stop the spread of the disease,” Grinager stated. “The vaccine is over 90 percent effective at preventing disease, but we still don't know that it prevents asymptomatic transmission. Until we have a large portion of the community vaccinated (around 80 percent), existing safety precautions will still be important for all people to follow.”

Those precautions include wearing a facemask, staying at least six feet away from those outside your household, washing your hands frequently, and staying home if you are sick.

Weekly hub updates now include vaccine administration data from MDH. County-level data represents individuals in Cook County who have received at least 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine. For more information, visit the MDH Vaccine Data Dashboard online at: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/vaccine/stats/admin.html

Find more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, visit: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/vaccine.html and https://mn.gov/covid19/for-minnesotans/vaccine/index.jsp

Vaccine-related questions can be emailed to public health staff at [email protected].