Vaccine clinic held at community center

ODESSA – The Odessa Clinic sprang into action Monday, when the Lincoln County Health District called to announce that 180 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine would be delivered to Odessa. Clinic manager Barb Schlimmer and her team quickly began organizing a mass inoculation clinic for folks who had already signed up to be on a waiting list for the shots. On Tuesday afternoon, setup began taking place in the community center after town officials agreed to its use as a location large enough for adequate social distancing during the event.

The entry point to the community center for those awaiting their shots was the east-side, double-door main entrance. Upon entry, folks were to register with clinic personnel, have their temperatures taken and fill out questionnaires at tables set up for that purpose. When the paperwork was finished, they would be directed to a waiting area from which they would be called by nurses into a screened-off area with three inoculation stations where the vaccine would be injected.

Once the inoculations were administered, patrons would be directed to a separate waiting area where EMTs and nurses would monitor them for 15 to 30 minutes for any adverse reactions. In the unlikely event that a severe reaction happened, the Odessa ambulance was ready and waiting outside the rear entrance to the community center. Those who experienced no problems within the waiting period were then free to leave through the front door of the community center, the barrier that had previously blocked the entrance having been removed for the day’s event.

Although some people on the waiting list had already received the vaccine elsewhere, by Wednesday morning the clinic staff had called and scheduled all remaining people on the list. With some doses still available, calls began going out to others who might be interested. Schlimmer said no vaccine would be wasted. The vaccines on hand can be kept until Friday, so the clinic has three days in which to administer all 180 doses that it received this week.