COVID Vaccine Call Center Information
The City of Suffolk, in partnership with the City of Franklin, Isle of Wight County, and Southampton County, will open a Call Center to provide information and address COVID-19 vaccination issues in the Western Tidewater Health District WTHD). The Call Center, located in the City of Suffolk’s Emergency Operations Center at 300 Kings Fork Road, will officially open at 1 p.m. today, Monday, February 8, 2021.
The Call Center number is 757.514.4570, and, after Monday’s official debut at 1 p.m., will have staff available daily to assist the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, until advised otherwise.
The Call Center has been established in order to provide much needed assistance in response to understandably overwhelming citizen inquiries to the WTHD from those seeking information regarding the scheduling and availability of COVID-19 vaccinations. Please note, however, that the previously published phone numbers for each of the four separate Health Departments that comprise the WTHD remain active for Health Department business and scheduling.
While staff at the Call Center are unable to actually schedule vaccinations, confirm appointments, or give medical advice, they can offer much needed assistance and provide helpful information, especially to seniors and those who aren’t using the internet or social media to receive notifications. They can also provide individual assistance in order to complete the new WTHD Vaccine Inquiry Form.
The Vaccine Inquiry Form provides citizens the opportunity to now begin the COVID-19 vaccination pre-registration process by completing the form/survey at https://redcap.vdh.virginia.gov/redcap/surveys/?s=WW97HTFCE9. While not an actual registration to receive the vaccine, the form/survey allows the WTHD to collect important pre-screening information so that their staff can then later reach out to individuals that have expressed an interest in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine to schedule an appointment for vaccination. They note that, due to the high volume of requests and the limited number of doses that have been made available from the State, it could then take several weeks for them to reach out to schedule vaccinations and they ask for your patience and that individuals only complete the survey ONCE per person. If a user does not have an email address, they are asked to enter their phone number in that section of the form as it is a required field. Links to the form/survey are also available on the City of Suffolk website COVID-19 page, as well as the WTHD website.
For individuals with questions about the vaccine, they encourage you to talk to your healthcare provider, and to also reach out to determine if they are offering the COVID-19 vaccine to their patients.
For further information specifically related to the City of Suffolk and other COVID-19 programs and initiatives, visit suffolkva.us/Coronavirus.
The Virginia Department of Health recommends that you visit the VDH website https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine and/or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html) for additional extensive information about COVID-19.
Amanda C. Jarratt
City Manager
City of Franklin
207 W. Second Avenue
Franklin, Virginia 23851
(757)-562-8561