More than 1,200 local people are on their way to developing immunity to COVID-19, thanks to a vaccine clinic held Tuesday at the former St. Bernard School on West Washington Street.
This was the first public COVID-19 clinic to be held in Bradford, with officials putting in weeks of effort to obtain an allotment of the coveted vaccines.
“We were able to procure the vaccine with help from elected officials, Rep. Martin Causer’s office and the McKean County Commissioners,” said Melissa Sullivan, vice president, clinical and support services, BRMC. “This community clinic is a true community effort and was made possible with the help of the McKean County EMA and the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (who donated the use of their building).”
The hospital received an allotment of 1,170 Pfizer, and those vaccines, along with 100 Moderna vaccines, were set to be given on Tuesday.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Commissioner Tom Kreiner, who talked about all the behind-the-scenes work that went into obtaining the doses.
More than 50 people were on hand Tuesday to help during the 12-hour clinic, with work being divided into two shifts.
Sullivan said the group was giving about 90 vaccinations an hour at the event.
The vaccines were administered by staff from BRMC nursing, quality department, Foothills Medical Group and Bradford Regional Medical Services.
Among those helping to organize the clinic were 30-some volunteers, according to Bruce Manning, emergency management coordinator. He said the EMA is very grateful for all those who volunteered their time.
He noted the EMA also assisted with the clinic earlier this month in Port Allegany, where 500 vaccinations were given.
Nate Burgett, EMA deputy coordinator, described the process of filling slots for vaccines.
On Wednesday, the EMA received the call list from BRMC, and on Thursday volunteers started calling people on the list to try to schedule them for appointments. By Sunday, they realized there were still slots open. They received lists from places such as Port Allegany Pharmacy with more names of possible vaccine recipients and started calling them.
They were fully booked by Monday afternoon, he said.
Sullivan said Laurie Schiafone, supervising pharmacist, has been in charge of managing the vaccine.
Schiafone has been tasked with making sure the group followed the storage requirements for the vaccine, and she served as a back-up person when they screened people to see if they were eligible for the clinic.
About halfway through the day, Schiafone and Burgett agreed the clinic was going quite smoothly.
The next hurdle for clinic organizers will be to reach more of the county’s 65 and older group in future, according to Burgett.
He explained that county residents who are 65 and older have “statistically been left out” when vaccinations were given.
Burgett said that 94% of people vaccinated on Tuesday were McKean County residents, but only 34% were age 65 or older.
Mills noted that people who are computer savvy might be grabbing up available appointments.
They plan to seek help from places such as local doctors, radio and newspapers to spread the word about upcoming vaccine clinics. Also, the county is setting up a phone bank for area residents to be listed to be scheduled for vaccinations.
Another clinic will be held in three weeks to provide second doses to Tuesday’s participants.
However, scheduling clinics beyond that is difficult, according to William Mills, MD, chief medical officer for BRMC, Olean General Hospital and Upper Allegheny Health System.
“It’s still a very big challenge. We just don’t know when (allotments of vaccines are) going to come,” Mills explained.
He noted rural communities don’t seem to be high on the list as far as vaccine rollout has gone.
“As we have been reporting, BRMC has ordered vaccine on a weekly basis,” said Mills. “The state aggregates all of the requests and then sends vaccine out. We have had no ability to influence this process related to quantity or which vaccine we receive; all three vaccines are safe and effective.”
Whenever new clinics are scheduled, the EMA will be there to support the distribution efforts, said Gerard Rettger, EMA deputy director.
Mills explained that on Thursday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health “announced that it created a vaccine provider network of approximately 300 providers who have a demonstrated ability to help achieve the goal of getting as many individuals vaccinated as quickly and equitably as possible. BRMC is the only provider listed in McKean County.
“The information we have at the moment is that BRMC should be getting additional doses of vaccine to administer, but the quantity and dates remain uncertain,” he said.
Jeff Zewe, CEO of Upper Allegheny, noted there has been a “significant drop” in hospitalizations. After the second wave, there was a point when about 50 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 between BRMC and OGH. On Tuesday, there was only one person hospitalized at BRMC and four at OGH.
Zewe said vaccines were “one of the magic bullets” — along with masking and social distancing — to limit the spread of the disease.
