UPDATE: 1/24
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – Memorial Health System just finished its first week of drive-thru-style Covid vaccine clinics. From the sounds of it, the three clinics were a success.
On Tuesday, 203 people were vaccinated, on Thursday 120 people were vaccinated, and on Saturday about 208 people were vaccinated, according to Jenny Black of Memorial Health.
Black said the drive-thru-style clinics have been more efficient than the walk-in-style. A big reason for this is that health professionals don’t have to limit the rate of people getting shots since social-distancing in a waiting room is no longer a consideration (all participants must wait fifteen to thirty minutes before they leave after getting vaccinated just in case they have a reaction).
Now, you may be wondering if it being the dead of winter is a drawback to drive-thru vaccines. Well, Black assures us that the vaccination tents are heated.
Black said the biggest problem they faced was a positive one. Some vaccine viles delivered to the health system have extra doses.
She explained, “So probably our biggest challenge is scheduling to that count of what we think are in the viles but then maybe midway through the clinic you realize, oh we’ve got two or three extra doses and we need to find some folks for those vaccines because we are not wasting any vaccine.”
On Tuesday, there were about three extra doses, on Thursday there were 20, and on Saturday there were eight, according to Black. She said every extra dose was used.
The people contacted for extra doses are pulled from Memorial Health’s wait-list, which you can join on their website. There is no limit to who can sign up for the wait-list. You don’t even have to be in an age group currently being vaccinated. However, the list is still prioritized by age and when you signed up.
ORIGINAL STORY: 1/23
Memorial Health System held their third drive-thru style vaccine clinic Saturday.
Cars drove in an orderly fashion into the vaccination tent. Everyone waiting in line was 80 or older and there were about 200 of them. The clinic was scheduled to run through participants, starting at 10:00 a.m.
Jenny Black of Memorial Health System said that this is a small clinic compared to their ambitions.
“Our goal with these first three was to really refine our process because our ultimate goal is to be able, when the vaccines are available, to have clinics where we’re doing 1,000 to 1,500 people a day in about an eight to 10 hour time frame.”
You can enter yourself into Memorial’s wait list through the health system’s website.
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