Drive-up vaccine clinic to be held Feb. 16

Qualified recipients with appointments will get a COVID-19 vaccine shot Tuesday during a second mobile clinic held here by Archbold Medical Center and Grady General Hospital.

Only those who have pre-registered will be eligible to participate, according to Crystal Wells, Grady General administrator.

Those who may schedule an appointment for the vaccine must be 65 or older, the caregiver of someone 65 or older, healthcare personnel or first responder, Wells says.

To register, call hospital administration at (229) 377-0251, 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., weekdays. The deadline to register for an appointment is Monday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. Should callers be asked to leave a voicemail, be sure to leave a telephone number so officials can return the call.

The drive-up clinic will take place Tuesday, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Family Worship Center, the same place  where the hospitals held their first one here last week.

Using the Cairo Fire Department and Grady County Emergency Management Agency to help get the word out for the first clinic, which was held Wednesday, Feb. 3, Archbold Medical Center was able to administer more than 70 COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to Priscilla Estrada, hospital spokeswoman.

“Our mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics are a way to reach those who are high risk in the community and may not be able to come to the hospital itself for a vaccine (65+). Archbold Medical Center works with various groups in surrounding communities to coordinate and schedule appointments,” Estrada states.

Archbold has provided vaccine clinics to numerous communities and has more planned in the coming days. The first clinic in Boston served as a test-run concept to determine community response. Since then, Archbold has been able to expand vaccination opportunities in all of its service areas including Brooks, Grady and Mitchell counties.

All of the outreach clinics have included around 100 vaccine doses per event as Archbold manages the limited inventory available at this time. So far, Archbold has been able to vaccinate more than 600 people through these critical mobile vaccine clinics.

Archbold has been operating a vaccine clinic within the hospital for several weeks, and has overall provided 11,774 doses so far.

Archbold recently announced that they have temporarily paused accepting new appointments for vaccines at the hospital in Thomasville due to a slowdown in vaccine supply being shipped from the state. But Archbold officials say they expect to be able to honor all appointments already scheduled and those with an appointment should come as scheduled unless notified of a change. Those scheduled for their second vaccine dose will also be able to return as planned.  The community is encouraged to visit www.archbold.org or follow the Archbold Medical Center Facebook page for up-to-date information.