A vaccination clinic planned for Ogallala had to be cancelled Thursday because health department staff felt threatened by a man who repeatedly e-mailed and called about the shots.
“He called so many times that staff felt threatened and they cancelled the clinic,” Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department Health Director Myra Stoney said. “They coordinated that with the superintendent at the Ogallala Public Schools where we were to have the clinic and we thought it was in everyone’s best interest to keep the kids safe and keep the public the public health staff and the school staff safe, so we cancelled the clinic.”
Stoney said the man identified himself and the health department is working with law enforcement in Keith County. She said the incident won’t deter their efforts to get more people vaccinated.
“We will reschedule and I would guess we’ll have law enforcement on stand-by and we’ll just keep moving forward,” Stoney said. “Every dose in a body is a success for our health department.”
Keith County has a COVID vaccination rate of about 43%.
Nebraska Public Media News reached-out to the Keith County Attorney about the incident and didn't hear back.