During a Zoom meeting Wednesday to discuss COVID-19 vaccine availability and issues facing the county, it was announced that McLeod Health will have a COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Bennettsville Community Center on Friday.
McLeod Board of Directors member Sully Blair said McLeod Health Cheraw would have a clinic at the Bennettsville Community Center with an estimated 250 vaccines beginning at 8 a.m. Friday.
It will be on a first come, first served basis. Those attending must show identification and proof of phase 1A status.
The meeting was a follow-up from one last week with leaders from various entities in the county, City of Bennettsville, towns and other groups to identify issues preventing the effort to vaccinate in the county.
One issue is that doses are being distributed through regional hospital systems but without a defined method of setting aside doses for counties like Marlboro without a hospital.
Another issue was South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control saying that rural health clinics in rural counties would receive an allocation of doses. Marlboro has two rural health clinics – CareSouth Carolina and Scotland Health. CareSouth has received doses but because Scotland Health is operated in North Carolina, DHEC has not granted approval for Scotland to vaccinate.
County Administrator Ron Munnerlyn said despite efforts of some in the group and Rep. Pat Henegan that progress is not being made.
The final issue was the county not having grocery/drugstore chains such as Publix or Ingles that were identified by DHEC as vaccination points.
The group will continue meeting and sharing information until vaccinations become readily available.