Fairfield County EMA Vaccination Call Center

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

After almost a year of COVID-19 infections, the first vaccines were released in December 2020. Discretion of how to schedule and administer vaccines were left to local governments, but without direction or guidelines. The Fairfield County Health Department (FCHD) attempted to schedule residents for appointments based on mandated eligibility and availability of vaccine. This quickly became difficult due to a time-consuming process with limited staff and the other responsibilities placed on the Health Department. FCHD turned to the Fairfield County Emergency Management Agency (FCEMA) for help with a solution. FCEMA quickly put together a call center with county staff and resources in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Lists of residents that signed up to receive the vaccine were robocalled with a local phone number and assisted with scheduling a vaccine appointment. Over 19,000 residents were scheduled in eight weeks to receive the vaccine with the Health Department. By utilizing technology, programs already in place, county staff, and not costing any additional funds over standard operational costs, the success of this program was invaluable. While this initiative ended when the Vaccine Management System (VMS) was created by the State of Ohio, it can be utilized in future.