Kettering Health opening Greene County COVID vaccine clinic Thursday

Site at Greene Memorial opens as Ohioans 50 or older become eligible.

Kettering Health Network XENIA — is opening a coronavirus vaccine clinic in Xenia on Thursday, the first day the vaccine will be open to Ohioans who are 50 or older.

As of this week, just fewer than 2 million people have started the coronavirus vaccine in Ohio and about half of those have completed the vaccine, according to Ohio Department of Health data.

The clinic is by appointment only and will open March 11 at Greene Memorial Hospital, 1141 N. Monroe Drive, in the Vera T. Schneider Building.

Kettering Health is also administering vaccines at 2510 Commons Blvd. Suite 140, Beavercreek; 1001 Harvard Blvd., Dayton; 4790 Cottonville Road, Jamestown and 2040 E. Dorothy Lane, Kettering.

As of Tuesday morning, all vaccine appointments at all five locations are full for this week, but appointments for next week will open up at the beginning of the week, Kettering Health Network said.

“Kettering Health Network is proud to continue expanding access to the COVID-19 vaccine, with five vaccine clinics now available to serve the Dayton area. The new clinic at Greene Memorial Hospital is our third in Greene County, and allows us to continue supporting the needs of local residents,” Kettering Health Network said in a statement.

About 18% of Greene County residents have been vaccinated, or more than 30,000 people, said Greene County Public Health spokeswoman Laurie Fox. 10.2% have gotten a second dose.

To date, Greene County Public Health alone has given 12,603 vaccines, Fox said.

“Greene County Public Health has expanded our clinic dates this week to accommodate as many people as possible who want the vaccines and we will continue to reevaluate our clinic dates and times each week as vaccine doses arrive,” Fox said. “We encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as they are able to do so.”

On Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that Ohioans 50 and older are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine along with Ohioans with type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease.

Last week, DeWine announced that all public health orders would be lifted if the state can get to fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks in Ohio. As of Tuesday, Ohio averaged 179.6 cases per 100,000, according to the state health department.

To date, Ohio has seen a total of 981,618 coronavirus cases, according to the Ohio Department of Health. As of Tuesday, 17,502 Ohio residents have died from the coronavirus.

The Ohio Department of Health unveiled a central coronavirus scheduling tool Monday to make the sign-up process easier for Ohioans.

Ohio residents can visit https://gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov/ to schedule an appointment. It’s accessible on computers, smartphones and tablets. People will be able to register for the state’s mass vaccination sites using the tool.

For more information about the Kettering Health vaccine clinics, call (844) 576-3627 or visit ketteringhealth.org/coronavirus.