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u.s. news Diamars 1 Juni 2021

Mobile vaccination units hit tiny US towns to boost immunity

(AP) — Pick-up truck clude raffles open to residents
drivers motor up to a white who are fully vaccinated by
trailer in a parking lot on July 4. Colorado, Maryland,
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Ohio, New York and Oregon
land in Nevada’s high are among several states al-
desert and within a few ready enticing people with
moments they’re handed lottery prizes approaching $5
forms to sign, jabbed with million.
coronavirus vaccine and
sent on their way. Immunize Nevada is plan-
ning vaccination pop-ups
The pop-up clinic 60 miles at breweries, churches and
(96 kilometers) east of Reno parks — complete with swag
is one of 28 locations in the like water bottles — and
state where the Federal Emer- scheduling them to coincide
gency Management Agency with holidays such as June-
has dispatched mobile vacci- teenth to target specific pop-
nation units to ensure people ulations.
in far-flung rural areas and
one stop-light towns can get In Reno, shots are offered at
inoculated. residents. Gerlach, for example, is 100 Nevada has long struggled minor league baseball games,
miles (160 km) from the with some of the nation’s and the Medical Social Jus-
It’s one of the tactics health “That’s our philosophy: it closest pharmacy in Reno- worst vaccination rates. It im- tice League at the Univer-
officials are using across the doesn’t make any difference Sparks. With just 34 people, proved to fifth-worst last year sity of Nevada’s School of
country to counter waning if there are two (people) nor it was once home to a boom- with 42% of adults vaccinated Medicine was set to co-host
interest in vaccinations. In 200,” said Peggy Franklin, ing gypsum mine on the against the flu, according to a clinic Saturday at a Catho-
tiny towns, churches, ball- a volunteer nurse who has edge of the desert that hosts the CDC. Part of the cur- lic church with a large Latino
parks, strip clubs and even traveled alongside a FEMA 80,000 visitors each year for rent outreach effort targets congregation.
marijuana dispensaries, offi- trailer to Fallon, Alamo, Pan- the Burning Man Festival. the 340,000 people who got
cials are setting up shop and aca and other towns The desolate landscape was those flu shots but have not “We need to meet them
offering incentives to entice featured in this year’s Acad- yet gotten a COVID-19 vac- where they are and where
people as the nation struggles To preserve the vaccine, emy Award-winning movie, cination. they feel safe,” Diana Sande,
to reach herd immunity. the trailers are equipped “Nomadland.” spokeswoman for the univer-
with ultra-cold refrigerators Nevada is refining its mes- sity’s School of Community
In Nevada, health officials powered by generators-on- Nearly half of Nevada’s eli- saging based on a growing Health Sciences, said about
acknowledge they’re unlikely wheels. On Monday, the two gible population has had at understanding of why some outreach efforts to the Latino
to hit their initial goal of vac- mobile clinics completed six- least an initial vaccination people remain reluctant to community.
cinating 75% of the popula- week loops through Nevada against COVID-19. But rates get shots. Much of the fo-
tion believed necessary to that included returning to have varied geographically. cus so far has been on cul- Kyra Morgan, Nevada’s chief
reach herd immunity. Ironi- finish two-shot regimens in tural and historical barriers biostatistician, has suggested
cally, their push in northern the state that covers an area In Clark and Washoe coun- that make certain groups less it may not be possible for the
Nevada is headquartered at that would stretch from Bos- ties, home to Las Vegas and open to vaccinations, but for state to reach its initial goal of
the Reno Livestock Events ton to Baltimore and Buffalo, Reno, respectively, about half many, it may come down to vaccinating 75% of the popu-
Center, where 65-year-old N.Y. of those eligible have gotten simple convenience. lation.
Dan Lavely and others are at least one dose, the state
showing up for shots. Initially, the goal was to vac- reported. The rate has been “A lot of individuals are not Still, communities may be
cinate 250 people a day at about half of that in Eureka opposed to getting vaccinat- able to return to normalcy
Lavely said he teared up while each stop. But the numbers and Elko counties, while Sto- ed, it’s just not fitting well even if they don’t reach the
thanking the nurses who vac- have varied, as vaccine supply rey County has seen just a in their daily life,” said Ka- threshold needed for herd
cinated him. has increased and demand 15% rate. rissa Loper, chief of Nevada’s immunity, added Dr. Nancy
has fallen. Bureau of Child, Family Diao, division director for
“I told them I was just so As infection rates drop and and Community Wellness. epidemiology and public
thankful that they were vol- “Just a month ago, people the state moves further away “That’s truly what we’re health preparedness in Wash-
unteering their time to help were still having a hard time from the height of the pan- moving to work on now with oe County.
get us back to normal so I finding vaccination sites. demic, officials acknowledge all of our partners, to do those
can go shop at the mall or go That’s really changed in the persuading the vaccine-hes- mobile and pop-up clinics.” “If we can reach a high
to the beach at Lake Tahoe,” last three or four weeks and itant to get shots won’t get enough population level,
said Lavely, who works at a now we’re trying to find easier. As a result, on the Jackie Shelton, a vice presi- say maybe 60% or 70%,
big box store in neighboring people that are more vaccine- heels of the FEMA effort, dent with the public relations that might also just be good
Sparks. Waiting to get vacci- hesitant,” said Marc Reyn- officials have been preparing firm that Nevada hired to enough for our community
nated had nothing to do with olds, a doctor from Fallon similar pop-up events in ur- help promote vaccine equity to bring the numbers drasti-
safety concerns or distrust of who has volunteered at the ban centers, suburban neigh- and outreach, said the lat- cally down,” she said, “and
the government, he said. mobile clinic in his home- borhoods and unconvention- est ad campaign intends to we can have this virus live
town and the state prison in al venues ranging from a Las “show people who look like with us in an equilibrium like
“It was a scheduling deal. Lovelock. Vegas strip club to a Sparks you — peers who are getting we do with so many other
Plus, my middle name is pro- truck stop along an interstate the vaccine and why.” diseases.”
crastinator,” Lavely said. The clinics have delivered that runs to Utah.
7,600 shots during two tours “People don’t want to be told
Two FEMA mobile trail- of Nevada and have also been “It’s important that the peo- what to do but they love to
ers have meandered through used in Arizona, Illinois, ple running the vaccination see their friends and others
Nevada to towns without Kentucky and other states. events look like the commu- talking about why they are
pharmacies, clinics or other Nevada Division of Emer- nity,” said Jeanne Freeman doing it,” she said. “It’s all
vaccination sites, giving doc- gency Management Chief of Carson City Health and about empathy. And remind-
tors, nurses and National Dave Fogerson said people in Human Services. “Comfort ing people what they have
Guardsmen a first-hand look the remote communities of levels are important. Some- missed during the pandemic
at rural and tribal communi- the state “probably would not times just being in a familiar and what they can get back.”
ties where finding vaccina- have got it any other way.” location.”
tions has been difficult for Future promotional ideas in-