First day of Jackson Co. vaccination clinic a ‘success’

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Jackson County opened the gates of its first drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic Thursday. The County said this clinic is open only to people in Phase 1-A, educators, and childcare providers. It added the last two groups because it’s getting more doses than expected and less people are registering than previously thought.

Jackson County said it actually exceeded its goal and was able to vaccinate anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 people Thursday. “I was there for the morning. It was phenomenal it was inspiring,” said Public Health Medical Director Dr. Jim Shames. He says the first day of the clinic went very well. “There were hundreds of people from lots of different agencies collaborating together, moving lots of people through effectively and safely. It was great,” said Dr. Shames.

As they entered the clinic, people getting the vaccine gave their registration paperwork to the employees and moved on to get their shot. After receiving the vaccine, everyone was observed for at least 15 minutes, before being allowed to leave.

Jackson County says they are not aware of any allergic reactions at the clinic. “We’re going to do an overview this evening to see how it went,” said Dr. Shames. With help from Asante, Providence, and the Oregon National Guard, the clinic has vaccines for educators, childcare providers, and everyone in phase 1-A only.

However, people still need to register ahead of time, on the Asante website. “We certainly proved we could do a lot of people in a short amount of time. And that’s important to know what the mechanics would be like,” said Dr. Shames.

How long the process takes, depends on whether people have their paperwork complete, or how many people are in line at a given time. “This test run was extremely successful,” said Shames. With 6,000 vaccine doses available, Jackson County’s goal is to vaccinate 2,000 people per day.

The vaccination clinic is open from 9 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. on Friday and Saturday.  The County says this clinic is open to people in phase 1-A, educators, and childcare providers only.

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