In ‘test run’ for mass vaccine event against coronavirus, Ochsner administers 1,200 doses in Metairie | Coronavirus

Just before 1:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon, Joyce Girard sat patiently in her great-nephew’s car in the parking lot of Shrine on Airline.

Girard, 70, was about to receive his first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as part of a 1,200-dose test conducted by Ochsner Health at the Metairie baseball facility on Wednesday afternoon. The event, the second drive-thru vaccination test run in Jefferson Parish in a few days, is a preview of what Ochsner and parish officials hope will become much bigger events in the coming months.

Ochsner spokeswoman Katie Fauquier called this a “test” for what Ochsner wants to do across the state. Officials from other locations were in Metairie working and hoping to take classes in other areas, such as Baton Rouge, she said.

The process worked like this: the patients arrived at the scheduled time for the appointment, checked in and entered the large parking lot west of the stadium. There, they were led down one of the six lanes where medical workers with pre-mixed syringes poked them in the arm. Then they stopped in a parking lot for observation. Getting an appointment for the first injection also guarantees them another appointment three weeks from now for the second injection.

For many Wednesdays, the process from arrival to taking the photo took less than 20 minutes.

Girard, from New Orleans, had arrived early for her appointment at 1:50 am, and while she was talking, her nephew moved the SUV towards the tent where she would get the vaccine.

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

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

“That was easy,” she said.

Once fully armed with the vaccine, Girard said he hopes to see more members of his family, including his daughter, many of whom have kept their distance due to COVID’s fears.

Girard’s experience was repeated by several other people who attended the consultations on Wednesday. Unlike test sites, which generally accept all sites, vaccines were available only to those who had made an initial appointment through Ochsner’s online portal or over the phone. To get an appointment, they had to meet the state’s criteria: over 65 years of age or in one of several other groups that are eligible to be vaccinated with the state’s current limited supply.

When they arrived at the sanctuary, those who had filled out the necessary paperwork in advance were sent to one of the six vaccination routes. Those who did not were diverted to the side, where they filled out the paperwork and then followed a winding path – not unlike the line for a ride at Walt Disney World – leading to one of six vaccination routes.

Dawn Pevey, the Ochsner officer who oversees much of the operation, said the site could be expanded from 1,200 vaccines to perhaps as many as 7,000-8,000 when vaccine supplies finally allow. In the first hour, she said, the 120-person team at the site handled about a quarter of Wednesday’s appointments.

A few feet from where Pevey Mauk was speaking, pharmacists huddled around a table in an air-conditioned trailer. There, they took the doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the refrigerators and put it? in syringes for injection. Once out of the refrigerator, the vaccine is valid for only six hours, so the team had to work as efficiently as possible to keep the six tracks stocked, but not in excess.

Gary and Stephanie Catoir, from Metairie, also made it through the line. Stephanie Catoir said she hoped to see her sister in Colorado as soon as she was fully vaccinated again; Gary Catoir said he was looking forward to seeing the kids in his neighborhood again.

Both praised the vaccination site.

“They have everything very well organized,” said Stephanie Catoir.