Since January the KVC has been working closely with our partner organization Cabin Creek to vaccinate the Charleston area. Cabin Creek usually hosts one vaccine clinic a week, rotating through a number of remote locations around the Charleston area. Earlier in the year, when the vaccines were just beginning to roll out, we ran into a number of logistical issues. Finding locations near our targeted populations that could host over a thousand people was difficult. Our vaccine drives targeted the oldest and the sickest demographics, so we needed extra manpower to assist them through them process. And the vaccine supply line had not been firmly established. Often we would receive hundreds of doses with only two days to organize the drive and book appointments. if we had any extra doses we would grab people from outside and administer the vaccine no matter how old they were. It was a chaotic system but our goal was to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible. In the first two months we had used 106% percent of the vaccine doses. The vaccine manufactures add a little extra in each bottle in cases we measured our doses incorrectly. Cabin Creek took extra precautions when they measured the doses so they were able to add all the extra vaccine to increase the amount of doses we had. So while from the outside it seemed difficult and chaotic to get vaccinated, inside the system we were functioning at 100% efficiency.
But our vaccine drives are changing. Gone are the days of massive vaccine drives where over thousand people gathered at a school. Now we have smaller continuous drives where a smaller group of people provide vaccines all week. We are vaccinating younger people, so we don't need as much assistance pushing wheel chairs or helping handicapped people. We have organized daily waiting lists where people that show up on a day can asked to be vaccinated and if we have any left over doses we can call them back at the end of the day. It's very convenient. Lastly the amount of doses we are receiving has increased dramatically, meaning that the limiting factor is the amount of organizational capacity and manpower rather then lack of resources. West Virginia and the country as a whole has rolled out these vaccines quickly and efficiently. Recently West Virginia allowed everyone over the age of 16 to be vaccinated, with or with out health conditions. This combined with the rising amount of doses we have access to means that if you want a vaccine, you will soon receive it. So please sign up now if you haven't already. Below is the registration phone number for our partner Cabin Creek and the West Virginia health department website.
304.734.2040