Special drive-through Lexington COVID-19 clinic vaccinates staff from medical offices
As many as 200 frontline health care workers were vaccinated to prevent COVID-19 as the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department administered Wednesday its first shipment of vaccines.
The vaccinations were given to frontline staff members who work for smaller health care providers, officials said. The larger health care providers, like major hospitals, already received vaccinations for their employees.
Lexington’s firefighters and paramedics also began getting vaccinated Wednesday at a different vaccination clinic, according to the health department.
“This is an important step in making sure these frontline public safety team members are able to safely protect our community,” Mayor Linda Gorton said in a statement shared on social media.
Wednesday’s drive-through operation previewed how the health department can distribute the vaccines to larger groups when the time comes. The doses the health department administered were from Moderna, which does not require extreme cold for storage.
There were up to 200 slots available Wednesday for vaccinations, and they filled up, health department spokesman Kevin Hall said. The health department worked with the Lexington Medical Society because the medical society had a roster of workers in smaller health care networks. Hall said there would be “no doses wasted.”
“We are fitting in as many people as possible who were pre-registered,” Hall said. “And some of our staff who are forward-facing — patient-facing individuals will also be able to get vaccinated.”
The vaccinations were administered in a drive-through clinic at Consolidated Baptist Church. The recipients were given the shots while in their vehicles. The recipients had to stay on the scene afterward to assure they had no allergic reactions to the vaccine.
Paramedics were at the church in case anyone had an allergic reaction.
Among the health care workers, older staffers and people with underlying conditions were prioritized, Hall said.
Lori Barton, a medical anesthesiologist at the Bluegrass Specialty Surgery Center, said getting vaccinated was “imperative” because she works with people’s airways.
“Knowing that I’m decreasing the spread of the disease ... it’s the best Christmas present I could’ve given myself.”
Dr. Russell Travis, an 85-year-old surgeon who is still actively practicing, said he told people he’d be “first in line” when the vaccine came out.
Travis said he was a child when the polio epidemic hit, and the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines are similar.
“We never got over it until (Jonas Edward) Salk put out the vaccine,” Travis said. “That’s how we’re going to get over this, is the vaccine. If people don’t get vaccinated, we’re still going to be in this mess for who knows how long.”
Who’s next?
There are more first responders and health care workers who need to be vaccinated, Hall said. Those groups will continue to be prioritized.
Nursing homes and other long-term care facility residents are also in the process of getting their vaccinations through Walgreens and CVS, Hall said.
Vaccinations for broader populations are further down the road, Hall said. But small vaccination clinics like the one done Wednesday will help the health department figure out how to run larger-scale vaccination clinics more efficiently once the vaccine is widely available, Hall said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 3:11 PM.