SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio — It’s getting easier by the day to get a COVID-19 vaccination in Summit County, with appointments no longer necessary, health officials said.
What You Need To Know
- It’s getting easier to get a COVID-19 vaccination in Summit County with clinics no longer requiring appointments
- Summit County is opening clinics close to home in neighborhood parks, community centers, even the Summit METRO transit station
- Residents usually have a choice between one-dose Johnson & Johnson or two-dose Moderna
- Summit County Fairgrounds will host a clinic this Saturday, May 8, from 9 a.m. to noon
Clinics are also getting closer to home, with new locations planned to pop up over the next several weeks.
“We have clinics scheduled until the cows come home in the community,” said Summit County Health Commissioner Donna Skoda.
What might be appealing to some is — no matter whether you’re looking to get vaccinated at the Summit County Fairgrounds Mass Vaccination Clinic, or one of the many health department-run pop-up sites — chances are good you’ll be able to choose which vaccine you want, Skoda said.
Most clinics are offering the one-dose Johnson & Johnson, or the two-dose Moderna, but, in some cases, the two-dose Pfizer could also be available, she said.
Summit County has about 40 clinics in all. The largest is the fairgrounds clinic, which has run smoothly since it opened in early April, vaccinating nearly 14,000 people, Skoda said.
The next clinic is scheduled for Saturday, May 8 from 9 a.m. to noon. The fairgrounds is located at 229 E. Howe Road in Tallmadge.
Demand has declined at vaccination clinics, across the state, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Although Ohio has not yet rejected or returned any doses from the federal government, state health officials have asked federal vaccine distributors to store nearly 500,000 doses until they are needed, the ODH said in a statement.
The decline is not surprising, Skoda said.
“I think we’ve hit the point, which we knew would come, where we’ve sort of had all the folks who are truly interested in getting a vaccine quickly,” she said. “And now we need to move on to where it’s more difficult. We’re going to have to start more one-offs.”
Those one-offs are scheduled for neighborhood parks, community centers, even the METRO RTA station, which will host walk-in or drive-up clinics over the next month, she said.
Feedback the health department has received indicates people don’t want to have to go very far to be vaccinated, she said.
“It wasn’t that they were opposed,” Skoda said. “It just it had to be really easy. And I can’t blame people after the year we’ve had.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been back in clinics for more than a week, after it was put on pause because of potential negative side effects.
Skoda said the majority of people who receive the bright-orange, informed-consent flyer that’s handed out at the clinics about J&J said they are not worried about side effects.
“There was no fear,” she said. “So that messaging got out, that your risk was very low.”
For the past several weeks, the health department also has been working with Akron Children’s Hospital and high schools across northeast Ohio, hosting vaccination clinics for students 16 and older.
The clinics, which use Pfizer, the only brand so far approved for kids 16 and 17, are scheduled to wrap up before school lets out for summer break, she said.
Health officials said they expect Pfizer to announce early next week it has been approved for children 12 and older. Tentative plans are in the works to expand existing clinics to accommodate the younger children, and run them through the summer, Skoda said.
As of now, the state has announced no plans to close the fairgrounds mass vaccination clinic, despite diminishing attendance, so the health department plans to keep working to draw people, Skoda said.
“People can just drive up and they can get their shot and they can have a choice of what they want, too, which is very accommodating,” she said. “And we’re nice.”
Upcoming vaccination clinics:
Friday, May 7, noon to 6 p.m.
- Barberton City Block 7 – purple lot across from McDonald’s
Saturday, May 8, 9 a.m. to noon
- Summit County Fairgrounds – 1050 North Ave. in Tallmadge
Thursday, May 13, noon to 6 p.m.
- Perkins Park (near the swimming pool) – 899 Diagonal Road in Akron
Saturday, May 15, noon to 6 p.m.
- Twinsburg Community Center – 10260 Ravenna Road in Twinsburg
Tuesday, May 18, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Cuyahoga Falls Riverfront Pavilion – 2085 Front St. in Cuyahoga Falls
Tuesday, May 18, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Buchtel Community Learning Center – 1040 Copley Road in Akron
Thursday, May 20, 5 p.m. top 7 p.m.
- Mason Park Community Center – 700 E. Exchange St. in Akron
Friday, May 21, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Metro RTA Robert K Pfaff Transit Center – 631 S. Broadway St. in Akron
Saturday, May 22, noon to 3 p.m.
- Hardesty Park National, Missing Children’s Day – 1615 w. Market St. in Akron
Monday, May 24, noon to 6 p.m.
- Summit County Fairgrounds – 1050 North Ave. in Tallmadge
Friday, May 28, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Barberton Salvation Army, Alexander Commons parking lot – 564 W. Tuscarawas Ave. in Barberton
