“If they don’t have an appointment and just show up, I’m afraid they’re not going to get vaccinated,” said Elaine Eschenbacher, the state Incident Commander at the site. “We have far more demand for vaccinations right now than vaccines to give out and that’s really the purpose of this pilot project to make sure we get our processes working well, get the kinks out so that when we do get more vaccine, our systems are very smooth,” Eschenbacher said.
Ten nurses are administering the Pfizer vaccine to more than 2200 people over a three day period. It’s a 45 minute process from check-in to getting the injection, and then waiting 15 minutes afterward to make sure there is no adverse reaction.
Eschenbacher says people are relieved to get the vaccine, but there’s also frustration.
“Certainly there’s some frustration with the process, and that’s exactly why we are doing this pilot. So by and large people are really grateful to be getting the vaccine and glad to be a part of this as we work out those kinks.”
The plan calls for 3 days of vaccinations followed by second doses in February. There could be more, but that depends on how much vaccine is available.
“Certainly those plans could change if we get more vaccine coming in. We’re trying to be as nimble as possible so if that eventually comes about we can offer something like this again,” said Eschenbacher.
Eschenbacher says they can sometimes get more doses than expected out of a vial, in that case there’s a waiting list of people they can call to make sure no doses are wasted.
