El Paso County health care providers are setting up hotlines for seniors to sign up to get the coronavirus vaccination to help make the registration process easier, particularly for those who don’t have computer access.

Seniors 70 and older who are already patients with current vaccinations providers, such as UCHealth, Centura Health or Optum, do not need to register to get vaccinated because health care workers will contact them to make appointments. But those who are not patients with one of the current providers need to register with one directly to get on a wait list, said Lisa Powell, El Paso County Public Health emergency preparedness and response program manager. Right now, most seniors must register online and that’s been tough for some who aren’t technologically savvy, she said.

“We didn’t want to delay the process of getting vaccine out there because systems weren’t built yet for how to get an easier access,” she said.

El Paso County Public Health is working with vaccination providers to set up the 1-800 hotlines soon, she said. UCHealth expects to have its hotline set up late next week or soon after, said Cary Vogrin, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Despite some of the difficulties and confusion some seniors are facing, across the county, 1,469 people on average per day are getting shots and about 25,200 doses have been given as of Friday in the county, Powell said. About 5,500 people have received their first and second doses, she said.

El Paso County has enough locations and staff to give more vaccines, it is just not receiving enough vaccines to meet the demand, she said.

Health care workers in the county are vaccinating those in the first priority group 1A, which includes health care providers working with COVID-19 patients and long-term care facility staff and residents. The county has also started phase 1B, which includes health care workers at lower risk of exposure, first responders and seniors 70 and older.

One of the seniors randomly selected to receive the vaccine this week was Bill Allen, 78, who has been extremely afraid of getting COVID-19 because of his respiratory and heart problems.

“I kind of figured if I got the disease, it would probably be a death sentence,” he said.

Allen got vaccinated at UCHealth and he was impressed when he didn’t need to wait in line and he couldn’t feel the shot at all.

“I didn’t feel it go in and I didn’t know it was over,” he said.

Allen is hopeful after his second dose on Feb. 1 he can start getting back to regular activities, like going out to eat and meeting with friends.

“Like other older retired people, I have my coffee shop buddies and I really miss seeing them in person,” he said.

The county decided to work with health care providers like UCHealth rather than holding community vaccination clinics to help reach more people, Powell said.

“If the health department had to do this work solely it would be very difficult, indeed,” she said.

EL Paso County has about 65,000 seniors who are eligible to get vaccinated and the county estimates by Feb. 28 70% of that population will be vaccinated, she said. El Paso County’s first responders are also expected to be vaccinated by that date, she said.