BECKLEY, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – Chief Medical Officer for AccessHealth Dr. Rodney Fink recently sat down with Lootpress, giving an update on the company’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
According to Dr. Fink, AccessHealth is one Raleigh County-based organization in a group of four that concerted to form a COVID-19 vaccination clinic held regularly at the Beckley Raleigh County Convention Center.
Although AccessHealth had been vaccinating since the inoculation was first released last year, the vaccination clinic began administering vaccinations the first week of January 2021.
Since then, the clinic has held over a dozen vaccination events and now nears 15,000 distributed vaccinations to the general public.
Despite the past weeks’ horrible weather and the ongoing need for volunteers, Dr. Fink says they have managed to schedule as many as 155 injections of the vaccine per hour during the all-day vaccination events- a feat that could not have been accomplished without the help of volunteers, employees and the community, Dr. Fink says.
“We feel like it’s a war. We describe it as a pandemic war,” he stated. “We have been very aggressive in testing both for the infection and antibodies. People have been so kind, so sweet and so supportive throughout the whole process.”
From the generosity of strangers bringing baked goods to the clinics, to citizens and employees volunteering all day out of the kindness of their heart, to local restaurants supplying food and drinks to the volunteers, Dr. Fink says administering the vaccines has been a community effort.
“People are working to make this happen. We have just had a tremendous team effort within our own organization and within the community. Any given day, I can point out a star for that day and say, ‘This happened because of this person.’”
Another round of vaccinations was given out at the convention center on Wednesday, March 17, followed by another on Thursday. The week will finish with a third event on Friday, March 19.
Dr. Fink shared that more than 1,600 first-round doses of the vaccination will be given between Wednesday and Thursday, and nearly 1,000 boost (second) doses of the vaccination will be given on Friday.
As vaccinations are being made available to the remainder of the general public, Dr. Fink encourages those who wish to be vaccinated or are interested in knowing more about the COVID-19 vaccine to visit the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources at dhhr.wv.gov.
He also reminded those who have registered to receive the vaccine to answer all incoming phone calls, so they do not miss the call from the clinic to schedule their appointment.
On the day of vaccination, Dr. Fink says to come within your designated appointment hour and that hour only. Arriving early only causes traffic congestion and confusion. If several members in a family are being vaccinated on the same day, Dr. Fink recommends carpooling to help mitigate traffic.
“Have your arm ready once you are in the parking lot, and you’ll be in and out in an hour,” Dr. Fink stated.
When asked about the importance of mass vaccination, Dr. Fink says it is the key to returning to normal life.
“Already, if you have a small group of people that have been vaccinated you can meet without wearing a facemask. That seems like a little thing, but it is such a relief after a year to be able to take that mask off.
“This is a huge thing,” he continued. “The more people we have vaccinated, the more we have our lives back. We will deal with what the future brings but right now we need to stop COVID-19 in its tracks. We have come a long way, but we have more to go.”