By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                The Levy County Health Department is caught in the perfect storm with its rookie administrator, Natalie McKellips, and public information officer, Wesley Asbell, apparently hunkered down in their offices and refusing to communicate with frustrated members of the public about why the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t being distributed more efficiently.

            Just about anyone can tell you how helpless they felt when they called the main phone line at the health department in Bronson hoping to make an appointment for a vaccine shot and got a busy signal instead. It didn’t matter how many times they called the 486-5300 number the result was always the same – a busy signal.

            McKellips took over the top administrative spot at the Levy, Gilchrist, and Dixie counties Department of Health about a month ago. She replaced retiring 43-year health department administrator Barbara Locke. Admittedly, McKellips stepped into the muddy waters of a state government-run COVID-19 vaccine program that has faltered miserably distributing a tiny supply of vaccine to tens of thousands of residents statewide.

            Even so, McKellips, a lawyer who started her career in law prosecuting disciplinary cases against licensed medical professionals and later became chief legal counsel for the North Central Florida Consortium of County Health Departments, isn’t terribly talkative about her role in distributing COVID-19 vaccines to Levy, Gilchrist, and Dixie counties.

            No Return Call

            Spotlight attempted on Wednesday to contact either McKellips or Asbell to ask them questions about why the distribution of vaccines in Levy County appeared to be in such disarray and why no one seemed to have any answers about how to obtain a vaccination other than by calling a phone line at the health department in Bronson that is nearly always busy.

 A Spotlight reporter visited the health department in person Wednesday, wearing a mask of course, because the phone line was busy, as always. It was impossible to call for an interview ahead of time. The same phone number used by people seeking a vaccination is used to call the health department for medical appointments, environmental health or to contact its administrators. It has become a form of screening calls, or so it seems.

            The reporter gave several questions to an employee in the lobby in hopes Asbell would respond to the phone call. Asbell didn’t return the call. Just before Spotlight arrived in the lobby of the health department, the employee was busy directing a woman to the area dealing with septic tanks. The employee tried to be polite and helpful with this reporter without making any promises of a return call. The usual method of operation for top tier government employees who don’t like talking to real news reporters is to call their favorite “pet” reporter at another publication and give them the official government version of what is going on. Or they call at some obscure time of the night when even the birds have gone to bed just to be able to say they’ve returned the call.

            There has been a small ray of light in all the communication darkness. John MacDonald, director of the Emergency Operations Center for Levy County, spoke to the Levy County Commission at their meeting Tuesday night and later agreed to give Spotlight an interview on Wednesday.

            300 Vaccines per Week

            MacDonald isn’t involved in actually distributing the vaccine. The health department is the lead agency. He is involved in logistics, which is a fancy word for saying he tries to help the health department get what it needs and he also communicates to the public about what he is seeing. MacDonald met with McKillips and others on Wednesday morning.

            He learned among other things that the state is giving the Levy County Department of Health 300 doses of vaccine every week. Once a week the Levy County Department of Health shoots out a text advising phone users they can call the 486-5300 number the following morning, usually on Wednesday, and try to get an appointment. But the phone line is always busy for those hapless callers who are so desperate for a vaccine that they continue calling even though it’s probably a lost cause.

            MacDonald is doing his part to clear up the muddle. He uses his emergency management website, levydisaster.com, to notify people when the vaccine is available and when the doors close for a particular week’s vaccines have been assigned to people. At the top of the website, where it says vaccines, are the notices.

            “It says to check back daily. It will say vaccines are closed or it will say open,” he said. If the website says vaccines are open, people can call for an appointment and get the usual busy signal. Macdonald can’t do anything about the busy signals. That’s a health department issue.

            The problem is that the health department uses only the 486-5300 number for taking vaccine appointments. People don’t have the option of registering online. MacDonald said his office went to the trouble of setting up an online registration system three weeks ago but the offer was politely declined by the health department.

            “I said all I can do to help you slow it down is messaging, but when you get 20 to 30 or 40 people calling at the same time, you’re not going to get through. I even offered them cell phones this morning,” MacDonald said. “If I was doing it, I would run a digital registration online as well as what they are doing now, but I would incorporate online registration. People could go online and register. I think people would feel more at ease if they could register online. We would call them back and tell them we got a vaccine for you. You’re the next in line. This is the date and time. Accept it or don’t accept it. But the health department has no online registration now. We had it ready to go three weeks ago. They just didn’t want to use it.”

            Popular Rumor

            MacDonald dispelled a popular rumor that the health department has a backlog of people who have registered for the vaccine but haven’t received it.

            “They do not. That’s always been the rumor. They do not want to register anybody or do anything if they can’t guarantee a vaccine,” he said. “Right now they are registering 300 for doses (per week) and that’s it.”

            MacDonald said he is aware that people are getting frustrated with the inability to get vaccinated.

            “Oh yeah, I know. You’re not telling me anything. I get emails and phone calls. Commissioners are getting emails and phone calls. People think we’re doing it over here. All I’m doing is a public information push and telling people, hey, the health department is the lead agency.”

            One Shot, Second Shot

            MacDonald cleared up another rumor. The Moderna vaccine is being distributed by the health department in the tri-county area. The vaccine requires two shots of vaccine 28 days apart. One common question is whether people who received the first vaccine will be first in line to get the second shot of the same vaccine. In response, MacDonald said 300 vaccines will be available every week for people receiving their first shot. The state is pushing out a separate batch of vaccines for people getting their second shot.

            He said the first Moderna vaccines in Levy County were given to first responders like law enforcement, paramedics, firefighters, and EMTs and to medical personnel. They received their shots during the week of Dec. 29 and they will be the first to receive their second shots at the end of this month. After that, the first group of 65 and older residents who received the vaccine will begin getting their second shots a week after the first responders.

            MacDonald said the health department is using a statewide telephone system for taking vaccine appointment requests. All the calls going to the 486-5300 line in Levy County are among the tens of thousands of calls being made to health departments across the state at the same time.

            “It’s bogging the system down,” he said. “They know it. Like I told commissioners last night, I don’t want to overstep my bounds or step outside my line because I’m logistical support. I help them do things, whatever they need and can’t get, it’s my job to help them out,” MacDonald said.

            At Tuesday’s county commission meeting, Chairman John Meeks said it’s not just Levy County residents who can access the vaccine at the Levy County Department of Health. He said the Department of Health has an open access policy. He said the vaccines are available to anyone. He said there are reports of people taking motel rooms in Gainesville and calling to get a vaccine appointment in Levy County. MacDonald said some people will call here to get their vaccine and possibly go to Orlando to get their second shot in 28 days.

            Commissioner Matt Brooks said the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is due to be released in March. It’s a one-shot vaccine. MacDonald said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been approved by the FDA but hasn’t been distributed.

            Commissioner Rock Meeks said people have been asking him if there are any bad side effects from the Moderna vaccine that’s being distributed in Levy County.

            “I haven’t heard of any in this county,” MacDonald said. “I have heard on the news different people having rashes, that sort of thing, but those have been few and far between. As far as Levy County, I haven’t heard of anything.”

            Lying to Citizens

            Commissioner Mike Joyner asked if there was any way to accommodate local people by setting up additional phone lines.

            “Who makes the call on contacting you — instead of lying to these citizens so they don’t have to call 5 or 6 times a day,” Joyner said.

            “The health department is the lead,” MacDonald said.

            MacDonald is hopeful that the distribution of vaccines will improve as more manufacturers make vaccine, supplies become more plentiful, and the system of distribution runs smoother.

            But he said the rollout of the vaccine hasn’t been pretty.

            “The whole rollout has been a travesty,” he said.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting January 19, 2021; Posted January 20, 2021