SISSESTON, S.D. (KELO) — The Woodrow Wilson Keeble Memorial Health Care Center in Sisseton has received its first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Frontline health care workers with the Indian Health Service of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate began receiving vaccinations early last week.
The facility received the initial shipment of 300 doses of the Moderna vaccine on December 21. They began vaccinating IHS staff, first responders and some elderly in long-term care facilities.
Sisseton-Wahpeton Chairman Delbert Hopkins Jr. said it is important to get their most vulnerable elder population vaccinated as soon as possible.
“We’re seeing a lot of older ones,” he said. “A lot of our language speakers that are passing from the COVID-19. Just recently, we had four elders already pass on from COVID-19. Maybe more.”
They are expecting to receive more information on the second shipment of the vaccine soon.
Learn more about vaccine distribution on the Lake Traverse Reservation in this full report tonight at ten.
