Hundreds of Pettis County citizens received a COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday during the first day of a three-day mass vaccination event on the Missouri State Fairgrounds.
A total of 2,200 people are expected to be vaccinated this week in the MO-AG Theatre. According to Bothwell Regional Health Center CEO Lori Wightman, 525 were expected to be vaccinated Thursday, followed by 1,050 on Friday and another 525 on Saturday.
Preregistration forms were collected by the Pettis County Health Center and Bothwell used its electronic scheduling system to create appointments.
“Appointment-making was much more time-intensive than we expected,” Wightman said. “We’re still working on tomorrow’s (Friday) appointments. We have a list of people who indicated they would be available within an hour and we are calling those people if we have no-shows. The last thing we want to do is waste vaccine — we only have six hours to give the Pfizer vaccine after it is diluted.”
Missouri is currently distributing vaccines to Phase 1B Tiers 1 and 2. Tier 1 includes public health administrators and staff, law enforcement, fire services, corrections, emergency management, public works, emergency services, and morticians and embalmers. Tier 2 includes anyone aged 65 and older and any adults with cancer, Chronic Kidney Disease, COPD, heart conditions, weakened immune system due to organ transplant, severe obesity (BMI more than 40), pregnancy, Sickle Cell Disease, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, or individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities such as Down Syndrome.
A complete list is available at covidvaccine.mo.gov/priority.
Citizens entered the MO-AG Theatre and filled out any needed paperwork. They then met with nurses to receive information about the vaccine, such as the difference between side effects, like a sore arm or body aches, and adverse effects. After receiving the vaccine from a Bothwell nurse, the citizens then sat in an observation area for 15 minutes before being cleared to leave.
Thirty members of the Missouri Air National Guard are assisting with the Pettis County site, doing anything from directing traffic to checking in citizens to entering data into Missouri’s vaccination database. A National Guard team has been assigned to help with vaccination in each of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s nine regions.
“Our biggest role is to support local health care and local authorities to distribute as much of the vaccine as possible,” said Capt. Joseph Nelson, who is based in St. Joseph with the 139th ALW.
Nelson said his team had a plan for helping set up the MO-AG Theatre but he was “super impressed” to find local authorities had already “ironed everything out” when they arrived this week.
Nelson said he was told that, statistically speaking, for every mass vaccination event hosted across the state, four lives are saved.
“That gives me a real sense of purpose for being here because it just feels good to be so hands-on and be able to make such an impact,” Nelson said. “We’re all from Missouri. I’m not from Sedalia but I’m from Missouri and I care about my state. I grew up here my whole life so it’s good to be able to give back.”
Bothwell hosted the site in communication with the Pettis County Health Center and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The Pettis County Ambulance District had two paramedics on scene in case of any issues. The State Emergency Management Agency and the Sedalia-Pettis County Emergency Management Agency also assisted. GUESA USA, which owns American Family Care in Sedalia, loaned iPads for data entry.
Wightman said they are “learning as we go” and planned to debrief each day to find ways to improve.
Bothwell Director of Clinical Education Kim Perez, RN, is an on-site event coordinator for the hospital. She said she helped fine-tune the process to make sure things went smoothly for citizens and workers.
“It’s great to see this outcome from the public,” Perez said. “To know everything we’ve done up to this point, they know how bad things can be and they’re willing to protect themselves and their community members. Hopefully we can get back to something closer to normal.”
The Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose vaccine. According to a news release, it is important that individuals return for the second dose to develop the highest level of immunity. Dates for the second dose include Feb. 18, 19 and 20 at the MO-AG Theatre. A second appointment time and date will be given to each person at the time of the first shot.
Vaccination will continue Friday and Saturday, again by appointment only. Anyone who arrives without an appointment will be asked to leave and preregister. All COVID vaccines in Pettis County will be by appointment only for the foreseeable future.
“We’re trying to put an order to the chaos,” Wightman said.
Preregistration is available at brhc.org/vaccine and pettiscountyhealthcenter.com or by picking up a paper copy at Bothwell clinics or the Pettis County Health Center, 911 E. 16th St.
For more information about the COVID-19 vaccine, visit MOStopsCOVID.com.
