Columbus Regional Health has administered what officials expect to be among the last first doses of COVID-19 vaccines given at an emergency standalone clinic set up in a matter of weeks this past winter during the height of the pandemic.
The clinic, at 1702 Keller Ave., opened its doors on Dec. 18 after CRH received limited doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine just days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the shots emergency use authorization.
As of this past Thursday, a total of 41,430 vaccines were administered at the clinic — enough to fully vaccinate 20,715 people — in what hospital officials described as a “huge undertaking.”
The clinic will remain open for second doses through the end of the month as part of a plan to gradually phase out vaccinations there and start offering shots at primary care clinics by August, due, in part, to waning demand.
CRH’s clinic was no longer listed on the state’s vaccination registration website, ourshot.in.gov, as of Monday morning, and officials are now directing people to contact their primary care offices or WellConnect to inquire about vaccines available through the hospital system. However, clinic officials will not turn away anyone who shows up seeking to get vaccinated this month.
“It really was just an across-the-board (effort),” said hospital spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue. “Almost every department was touched by this initiative to spin this up quickly.”
The opening of the clinic in December came after CRH officials scrambled for three to four weeks to plan and launch the first standalone vaccination clinic in the hospital system’s 104-year history.
It also came at a time when COVID-19 hospitalizations at CRH, as well as the number of staff out quarantining, were surging to their highest levels of the pandemic, stretching the hospital nearly to its limit.
On Dec. 2 — just 16 days before the standalone clinic would open — COVID-19 hospitalizations at CRH reached a peak of 59 as a tidal wave of cases barreled across the U.S. that would result in the deaths of at least 73 Bartholomew County residents by spring.
At about the same time, 55 CRH employees were out quarantining due to testing positive for COVID-19 or having symptoms consistent with the coronavirus. And the staff that weren’t out quarantining were growing increasingly fatigued after months of treating a barrage of patients and weathering the stresses of the pandemic.
“(The clinic) was just coming off really what was our highest (hospital) census,” DeClue said. “…Even though we were strapped for resources and people, everybody was just willing to put that aside because it meant a turn in this pandemic.”
Initially, only certain healthcare workers were eligible for the shots, though state officials later gradually expanded eligibility by age, starting with people age 80 and up.
As of Monday morning, 39,050 Bartholomew County residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — about 46.6% of the county’s total population and 55.4% of those who are eligible, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
That is still far below the threshold of at least 70% to 80%, or more, of the population that most infectious disease experts say is needed to reach herd immunity.
However, local health officials said they continue to be hopeful that more local residents will roll up their sleeves soon.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”How to get vaccinated” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Visit www.crh.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-information for more information about COVID-19 vaccines available through Columbus Regional Health, or ourshot.in.gov for more information about other locations where vaccines are being administered.
CRH patients also can call their primary care office or WellConnect at 812-376-5136 to inquire about COVID-19 vaccines.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
