BLACKSBURG, Va. – The distribution strategy for the COVID-19 vaccine is changing in the New River Valley.
On Tuesday, the region held its final mass clinic at Lane Stadium.
This clinic also served as the first one where kids as young as 12 could be vaccinated, following Pfizer’s expanded eligibility.
It was a big day for the Clubb family.
“Just starting down the path of getting our entire family vaccinated,” said Shannon Clubb, who brought her kids to get vaccinated.
Three of their five children are now a step closer to being fully protected against COVID-19.
“One of my daughters has Type 1 diabetes and so that’s definitely important for us too but just even in general, we feel like it’s the safest route for our family for protecting the community,” Clubb said.
Her oldest children, ages 12, 14 and 15, are all newly eligible for the vaccine.
“It hasn’t been the worst year ever, but still I wish I could’ve done more things with other people,” said 12-year-old Mallory Clubb. “I’ve been wanting to socialize more so I think that once I’m fully vaccinated that that will slowly start to happen again.”
A change in demand has led to a change in distribution strategy.
“At our largest here, we did almost 4,000 in a day and we had about 60 vaccinators. Now, we have days where we’re going to be going out and doing three or four events with just a couple vaccinators each for just a couple hours,” explained New River Health District director Dr. Noelle Bissell.
The district will now move to mobile clinics, targeting under-served and untrusting communities.
“It’s not where people are going to come search us out, we’re going to go door to door,” Bissell said.
Click here to find out where you can still get your vaccine in the New River Valley.