In ‘trial run’ for mass vaccination against coronavirus, Ochsner gives 1200 doses in Metairie | Coronavirus

Just before 1:30 on Wednesday afternoon, Joyce Girard is sitting patiently in her granddaughter’s car in the parking lot of the Shrine on Airline.

Girard, 70, was about to receive her first dose of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as part of a 1,200-dose trial run hosted by Ochsner Health at the Metairie baseball facility on Wednesday afternoon. The event, the second pass-through vaccination trial in Jefferson Parish in as many days, is a preview of what Ochsner and city officials hope will become much bigger events in the coming months.

Katie Fauquier, Ochsner’s spokeswoman, calls it a ‘test run’ for what Ochsner ultimately wants to do around the state. Staff from other locations in Metairie were working and hoping to take lessons back to other areas, such as Baton Rouge, she said.

The process worked like this: patients showed up for their appointment at the appointed time, checked in and then entered the large parking lot west of the stadium. There they were led through one of the six lanes where medical workers with pre-mixed syringes stabbed them in the arm. They then moved into a parking lot for observation. If you get the appointment for the first jab, they also assure you another appointment over three weeks for the second shot.

For many Wednesday, the process from arrival to taking the shot took less than 20 minutes.

Girard, from New Orleans, showed up early for her 1:50 appointment, and while she was talking, her nephew pinched the SUV forward to the tent where she would get her vaccination.

“I feel happy,” she said as she waited. “I want the vaccine.”

Moments later, while waiting for the 15-minute observation period in her nephew’s car, Girard said it was an almost painless process.

“It was easy,” she said.

After being fully armed with the vaccine, Girard said she hopes to see more of her family members, including her daughter, many of whom have distanced themselves due to fear of COVID.

A number of other people who showed up for appointments on Wednesday repeated Girard’s experience. Unlike the test sites, which usually take all visitors, the vaccines were only available to those who first made an appointment through Ochsner’s online portal or by telephone. To get an appointment, they had to meet the criteria of the state: older than 65 years, or in one of several other groups that are eligible to be vaccinated under the current limited offer of the state.

When they arrive at the Sanctuary, appointment holders who have completed the necessary paperwork ahead of time are sent to one of the six vaccination lanes. Those who had not yet done so were diverted to the side, where they completed the paperwork and then took a winding road – not unlike the one for Walt Disney World – which resulted in one of the six vaccination pathways.

Dawn Pevey, the Ochsner officer who oversees much of the operation, said the site could be expanded from 1,200 vaccines to perhaps as many as 7,000-8,000 when the vaccine supply finally allows. In the first hour, she said 120 staff members handled about a quarter of Wednesday’s appointments.

Just a few feet from where Pevey Mauk chats, pharmacists hide around a table in an air-conditioned trailer. There they took the doses of Pfizer vaccine out of coolers and into? it in syringes for injection. Once the radiator was gone, the vaccine was only good for six hours, so the staff had to work as efficiently as possible to keep the six lanes, but not too much stock.

Gary and Stephanie Catoir, of Metairie, also got through the line quickly. Stephanie Catoir said she hopes to see her sister in Colorado as soon as she is fully vaccinated again; Gary Catoir said he is looking forward to seeing the children in his area again.

They both praised the vaccination site.

“They organized it so well,” Stephanie Catoir said.