After a ten-day delay from its originally scheduled date on a frigid Feb. 12, Spur’s first Covid-19 vaccination clinic went off smoothly on Monday at the Swenson Park show barn.
“Everyone who wanted a shot was able to get one,” said Dickens County Judge Kevin Brendle. “It says a lot about this communty that, with everything volunteers did over the weekend to help with the water situation, they turned right around and helped with this event.”
Kelly Northcott of the Texas Department of State Health Services regional office, which coordinated the clinic, concurred. “What makes this possible is local support,” he said, explaining that everything from local officials helping check in patients and sanitize surfaces, to the Spur fire department, which repaired leaking pipes in the building over the weekend, to Cap Rock Telephone, who set up WiFi for submitting vaccine data, were essential.
Brendle said that 130 doses were administered. Those receiving the Moderna vaccine on Monday will return for their second doses on March 22, at the same location.
Northcott said that DSHS is currently scheduling two such clinics throughout the region and expects to move to a North team and South team handling perhaps four events weekly. In every community they will rely on local volunteers to supplement staff and contractors.
Many residents exiting the barn into the February sunlight expressed their relief at getting the vaccine at last, and hoped the pandemic might be on its way out the door too.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
