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Vaccination efforts continue to evolve in Douglas County

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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Douglas County Health Department has set up vaccination goals along with plans for various communities.

Vaccination efforts will start to look a bit different as organizers start to hit the streets.

"We do realize we have to change our approach and are working with some of the churches, especially in North Omaha, to vaccinate their populations,” said Phil Rooney, spokesperson for the health department.

They have expanded the number of walk-in clinics and increased the hours they are open to accommodate people who want to come before or after work.

They have realized they need to tailor their messaging.

"Communicating with the adult population and teenagers is a completely different thing and we also have to work with the parents with the 16, 17 and 18-year-olds because we need parental consent,” said Rooney.

You can pick up a free set of reusable masks at their offices and they have plans to go into the schools and communicate directly with high school students.

"A very large portion of the new cases have been variants and it is hitting young people who are not yet vaccinated. We have had seven deaths since April from COVID-19 and none of the individuals were fully vaccinated so we know the vaccine does work," said Rooney.

You can visit the Douglas County Health Department’s website to see where they are in their vaccination efforts.

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