On ‘trial’ for mass coronavirus vaccination event, Ochsner administers 1,200 doses at Metairie | Coronavirus

Just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Joyce Girard was sitting patiently in her grandnephew’s car in the parking lot of the Shrine on Airline.

Girard, 70, was set to receive his first dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as part of a 1,200-dose Ochsner Health trial held at the baseball facilities in Metairie on Wednesday afternoon. The event, the second drive-thru vaccination trial at Jefferson Parish in as many days, is a preview of what Ochsner and parish officials hope will become much bigger events in the months to come.

Ochsner spokeswoman Katie Fauquier called this a “test” for what Ochsner ultimately wants to do in the state. Staff from other places were working in Metairie and hoped to pick up lessons in other areas, such as Baton Rouge, she said.

The process worked as follows: Patients arrived on time for their appointment, checked in, then entered the large parking lot west of the stadium. There they were directed to one of six lanes where medical workers with pre-mixed syringes stuck them in the arm. Then they pulled into a parking lot for observation. Getting the appointment for the first shot also ensures them another date in three weeks for the second shot.

For many Wednesdays, the process from arrival to shooting took under 20 minutes.

Girard, from New Orleans, had arrived early for her meeting at 1:50 am, and as she spoke, her nephew drove the SUV towards the tent where she would receive her vaccine.

“I feel happy,” she says while waiting. “I want the vaccine.”

Moments later, as Girard waited for the 15-minute post-vaccination observation period in her nephew’s car, she said the process had been almost painless.

“It was easy,” she says.

Once fully armed with the vaccine, Girard said she hoped to be able to see more of her family, including her daughter, many of whom had kept their distance due to COVID fears.

Girard’s experience was echoed by several other people who showed up for the meetings on Wednesday. Unlike testing sites, which typically cater for all arrivals, vaccines were only available to those who had made an appointment for the first time through Ochsner’s online portal or by phone. To get an appointment, they had to meet the state’s criteria: over 65, or one of many other groups eligible to be vaccinated under the state’s current limited supply.

When they arrived at the sanctuary, appointment holders who had completed the necessary paperwork in advance were directed to one of six vaccination routes. Those who hadn’t were diverted to the side, where they filled out the paperwork, then took a serpentine path – much like the queue for a ride at Walt Disney World – leading to one of the six routes of vaccination.

Dawn Pevey, the Ochsner official overseeing much of the operation, said the site could expand from 1,200 vaccines to perhaps 7,000 to 8,000 when vaccine stocks finally allow it. In the first hour, she said, the team of 120 on-site had handled about a quarter of Wednesday’s appointments.

A few yards from where Pevey Mauk was speaking, pharmacists huddled around a table in an air-conditioned trailer. There, they took the Pfizer vaccine doses out of the coolers and pulled them out? them in syringes for injection. Once out of the coolers, the vaccine is only good for six hours, so staff had to work as efficiently as possible to keep all six lanes stocked but not overstocked.

Gary and Stephanie Catoir of Metairie also crossed the line quickly. Stephanie Catoir said she hoped to visit her sister in Colorado once she was fully immunized again; Gary Catoir said he can’t wait to see the kids in his neighborhood again.

They both rented the vaccination site.

“They put it together so well,” said Stephanie Catoir.