You would have thought Billy Joel was in town for a concert. “They arrived here at 7:40 p.m.,” said Flager Health Department spokeswoman Gretchen Smith about the first cargo that arrived at the fair Friday night in anticipation of the coronavirus vaccination the next day. It would not start at 14 o’clock. “They had snacks, they had a backgammon, she said it was a beautiful evening, and then she said the next car was coming at 11pm.”
When a team of 70 Health Service staff and volunteers from Flagler County’s volunteer services began vaccinating around 9:15 a.m., the highway at 13 County Road stretched to U.S. 1, although today there were only 600 vaccines to issue. with more next week: the health department expects its second consignment, this one of 500 vaccines, on Monday, and more vaccination days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, or if the stock lasts.
By noon, between 350 and 400 people had been vaccinated, mostly health care workers not working at a local hospital or welfare agency, or people aged 65 and over. Although the event was designed primarily for health workers, the department said it would not reject anyone 65 and older, in line with the governor’s order to prioritize the age group.
Of the 350 to 400 vaccinated, no one indicated any form of distress because the vaccinated stood in a field for 15 minutes. If there were problems – an allergic reaction or anything else – they would honk, and the staff of the health department would rush away with a rolling metal box of sorts containing everything needed for immediate help in case of reaction, including ‘ an oxygen tank. But it sat unused all morning and afternoon, next to the team of health department staff who prepared shot after shot of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
The biggest problem was a stuck car. “We need cables on Station Four, please,” the director of the health department said at one point in his portable radio.
Despite serious delays in the delivery of vaccine doses, chaos, disorganization, unanswered questions and uncertainty about when and where the next doses will arrive – the Trump administration picked up all delivery and logistical responsibilities to states and congregations already overwhelmed by the pandemic – the event at the fair went relatively smoothly, with more cheering and thumbs up than people were turned away. It was hastily organized by the Department of Health and the department’s emergency management department, the bipartisan organizational system that has been managing the pandemic locally since March.
“At one point we hit US 1, when it actually happened, we did a rough number of cars, and we actually told everyone that it was not in line yet, we knew for sure that they were not vaccinated. would not get, “Jonathan said. Lord, who heads emergency management and was at the fair, said at about 11:30 p.m.
“We’ll probably get all the people standing in line this morning because there were no more cars there at 13,” said Bob Snyder, the director of the health department, at 11:30 p.m. (More cars would be parked later in the queue later, but it was not certain if the occupants of the car would be vaccinated.) ‘Today was the only day we did not have appointments. “It was specifically for health workers, who are the majority of the people according to what we can tell,” Snyder said. “We will vaccinate 600 people before the day is over.”
When it started, the teams managed to vaccinate five cars within 12 minutes. By noon, it was five cars within four minutes.
The process started at the first station, with Lisa Sanchez and her team checking people’s identification – job ID showing their health care employees, or a driver’s license showing that they’s over 65. No one was turned away, even if the person was from outside the province.
The wait was not short: with hundreds of cars in line, the health teams organized in four stations on which motorists would take turns stopping (one for paperwork, one for investigation, one for the actual shots, one for the 15-minute wait) five carloads were processed every 12 minutes at the start of the event. But as the vaccination at the country’s emergency operations center took place earlier this week, the mood was more festive than anxious. There were no signs of impatience.
Starting next week, the country has an online portal for people setting up their appointments. “Depending on the number of vaccines we definitely see on Monday,” Lord said (provincial and health officials have learned over the months to never count any Covid-related material before it is in possession), “we will open so many appointments. People will make an appointment and then show up here during their appointment. The Eventbrite dating website will only be in place before the country gets its hands on the vaccines.
People can also sign up for text messages. People who were not vaccinated today got a kite that explains how to get vaccine updates, by logging on and texting ‘Flaglercovid’ to 888-777.
“Once the slots are no longer based on the vaccines, we have to stop the appointments until the next rounds,” Lord said.
All of this actually involves twice as much work: each recipient of the vaccine must receive two shots – three weeks apart for the Moderna vaccine – to have the vaccination effective. This means that if all of Flagler’s adult population is vaccinated, local officials will have to be prepared to deliver 200,000 shots. This puts today’s event in perspective: it was a very small example of what lies ahead.
Emergency and health services officials have to contend with the state of emergency – and the fact that they have finally taken many of the vaccination protocols into account – in addition to their normal responsibilities and their ongoing Covid responsibilities.
‘We’re in a situation where we have to continue public health services throughout the week, and vaccinations and still community investigations, investigations into cases, contact tracing, knowing that the month of January is going to be one of the most difficult months for cases. “Snyder said.” We do all these things at once. It is therefore a matter of prioritization. There are many there. We have 20, 25 different programs directly at the health department. So what we will do is keep our emergency services going. The example could be antenatal care, or just a situation like in our dental clinic. What we will do to make this vaccination priority and responsibility a priority may be to close non-emergent clinics during the day or during the afternoon, and then resume appointments so that we have the staff. “
The flagship health department in Flagler County has 90 staff members as of today, of whom 56 work daily staff, and the rest have been added since the pandemic. The department wants to rent 10 to 12 more. “We’re just going to reassign duties and staff to this vaccination effort, just like we did earlier with community tests, because that’s a priority,” Snyder said.
