‘Tears in their eyes.’ Vaccine clinic aims to defeat obstacles for Lexington seniors
Showing concern for residents who may “slip through the cracks,” the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department has begun vaccine clinics with a limited supply of doses for certain people 70 and older.
The first of these clinics occurred Wednesday with about 300 doses administered to Lexington’s older residents. The new clinics are another step forward in immunizing those over 70 as allowed in Phase 1B. Previously, the health department was vaccinating only frontline health care workers.
“There were people with tears in their eyes because they’re finally able to get this vaccine,” health department spokesman Kevin Hall said Wednesday morning.
But 300 vaccinations only covers about 1 percent of Lexington’s 70-and-up population, according to the health department. With a limited supply of vaccine, the health department plans to narrow its focus in the 1B group to older Fayette County residents who have mobility or transportation issues or those who can’t get signed up for other clinics online.
“Our goal with 1B is not every person 70 and above in Lexington,” Hall said. “It’s about people who are at risk of slipping through the cracks.”
The Lexington Senior Center helped the health department identify and register residents for Wednesday’s clinic, which took place at Consolidated Baptist Church.
That narrow focus will remain in place for future clinics conducted by the health department, Hall said. Interested residents will be able to sign up for updates online or over the phone soon, according to the health department.
The Senior Center was planning on holding its own vaccine clinic Thursday, Hall said. Participants were selected by the Senior Center using criteria similar to what the health department used Wednesday, he said.
One 76-year-old veteran collapsed while waiting hours for a vaccine at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center before ultimately getting turned away because he didn’t have the proper paperwork. Issues like that are among the ones the health department hopes to address.
Other Lexington vaccine options for seniors
Residents 70 and older who can sign up for vaccinations through another provider are urged to do so.
Other major health care providers, like UK HealthCare and Baptist Health Lexington, are vaccinating K-12 teachers, first responders and people 70 or older on a much larger scale.
“We understand the challenges,” said Ruth Ann Childers, a spokesperson for Baptist Health. Some people aren’t able to schedule a vaccine online, but it’s recommended that they don’t call the hospital until there are larger quantities of the vaccine available.
“We will be able to work on more solutions for people who prefer to do that as we have more vaccine,” she said. “People are so excited, and they’re so grateful. We can just only vaccinate with the vaccine that’s supplied.”
She advised residents to call the state’s COVID-19 hotline in the meantime at (800) 722-5725.
UK’s vaccine site at Kroger Field has been administering doses to about 200 or 250 people per hour, according to Lance Poston, assistant VP of student success and acting co-director of UK Health Corps. He said the operation can properly accommodate people 70 and older.
“We feel confident in the accessibility of the Kroger Field site,” he said. “We appreciate all the user feedback we can get and have continued to adjust and make that more and more accessible.”
The vaccine site is accessible for people with disabilities, and officials are working to make additional accommodations for people who can’t drive themselves to the vaccine site. UK also offers an alternative to online registration by letting people call (859) 218-0111 for assistance.
Lexington health department works with limited supply
The decision to distribute about 300 doses was determined by how much time the health department had available and how long the health department expected it to take to vaccinate each person in that group, Hall said.
“We understand they’re tired of waiting,” Hall said. “We want them to get it. It’s just we have to have more vaccine. We don’t want a situation where seniors are waiting in line outside a building to get a shot and it’s snowing and 20 degrees.”
Hall has repeatedly said the health department isn’t reserving vaccine doses. They find out how many doses they’re set to receive every Monday, and they distribute as much of it as they can at their Wednesday clinics. He said the usage rate is over 95 percent.
“This isn’t 25,000 seats sitting at Rupp Arena waiting to be filled,” Hall said. “For us, it’s 1,200, 1,500, 1,800 doses. And we’re still getting people from 1A.”
There were about 1,300 1A health care workers who got shots at Wednesday’s clinic, Hall said. Four hundred of them were getting their first shots, and about 900 were getting their booster shots.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said during her city address Tuesday that residents needed to be patient with vaccine rollout.
“The vaccine distribution process isn’t perfect, but it’s improving,” Gorton said.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 3:01 PM.