OEM Incident Management Team to Oversee COVID 19 Vaccinations

Missoula County’s Office of Emergency Management, in partnership with the City of Missoula, will stand up a Type III Incident Management Team to coordinate COVID-19 vaccine administration throughout the county.

OEM Director Adriane Beck said due to the large population in Missoula County that several mass vaccination clinics will be required to serve the area.

“The realities of how this vaccine will be delivered and to the scale to which it must be delivered does not lend itself to a single centralized access point distribution, but rather we must have as many access points across the community as possible, and that this reality is what necessitates the centralized coordination effort,” said Beck. “This Missoula County vaccination coordination team will aim to open lines of coordination among all vaccine providers to ensure accurate and timely information and data exchange.”

Beck described the process the Incident Management Team will undertake.

“This team will remain in place until COVID-19 vaccine is widely available in Missoula County to any resident over the age of 16 wanting to get vaccinated,” she said. “In the coming days and weeks, we will begin to collect and provide information and data to reflect not only what has been accomplished to date, but to the greatest extent possible what to expect in the immediate future as we look to interface Phase One B.”

Beck said the team will work closely together throughout the vaccination process.

“This team will establish methods to share and report information among vaccine providers, as well as with the public,” she said. “As we enter Phase One B and phases beyond, this team will develop strategies for identifying and connecting eligible citizens with a vaccine provider for administration, as well as coordinating efforts around mass vaccination events across Missoula County.”

"Your county and cooperator vaccine providers are anticipating completion of Phase One A in the very near future,” she said. “Phase One B will present a much larger contingent of the population that necessitates the implementation of this coordinated effort and more vaccine access points across the county. We ask for the public's patience as we develop the strategies necessary to ensure that Missoula County residents who meet the Phase One B criteria can be connected to a vaccine provider in the quickest, most efficient manner possible. Please continue to monitor trusted sources of information to ensure that when it's your time to get vaccinated, that you are ready.”

Beck wrapped up with the call ‘Let’s get to work’.

County Commissioner Josh Slotnick, Missoula Mayor John Engen, City-County Health Officer Ellen Leahy and officials from Providence St. Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center were also there to answer questions from reporters and the public.