Pop-up vaccination clinics connect with target audience

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This article was published 30/06/2021 (1722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kristopher George was walking Tuesday by Central Park when he was stopped by a staff member of the province’s mobile vaccine clinic.

Not long after, a nurse gave the 33-year-old his first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

“I was really nervous and scared about getting this vaccine,” he said. “I just heard a lot of rumours and all that crazy nonsense.”

However, many people from his home Chemawawin Cree Nation (some 450 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg) have already been vaccinated, he said, adding his girlfriend has two doses.

So when workers at the mobile clinic called out to him, George stopped and “started asking a bunch of questions.”

After staff described potential side-effects and answered his questions, George decided to roll up his sleeve. He’s now looking forward to his second dose in 28 days.

“I feel good. I feel protected now.”

While he could get his second vaccination on reserve, the simplicity of the pop-up clinic (Tuesday stationed on Qu’Appelle Avenue) has George considering a change of plans.

“Maybe we’ll extend our stay,” said George, who was accompanying his girlfriend to an appointment in Winnipeg.

The vaccination crew, wearing neon-coloured vests, could be seen running people through the process, answering questions and calling out to passersby to come get vaccinated or to spread word the clinic is available.

Iris Payment was one of those people, and although she’d already been fully vaccinated, she snatched up a few posters to post at her nearby apartment building.

“There’s a lot of people in my building with walkers and wheelchairs,” she said, adding some of them could benefit from a clinic so close by.

A spokesperson for the province said Tuesday mobile clinics target areas where immunization uptake is lower and people may face barriers to accessing other sites. The mobile clinics have doled out about 800 doses thus far, the spokesperson said.

While the province runs the mobile clinic, local groups organize and promote most pop-up vaccination clinics independently of government. The groups can apply to host a clinic, and the province provides the vaccine doses and, sometimes, the staff to run it.

The province allocates about 180 doses per week to community partners. Each clinic targets a specific community and is generally focused on getting people a first shot.

A pop-up clinic at Red River College’s Notre Dame Campus was one of several operating Tuesday. A spokeswoman said more than 100 international students booked in advance for their first dose.

Amritpal Kaur arrived from India two months ago to study at the Winnipeg college. When she tried to book her vaccination, she quickly hit a barrier.

“It’s so hard to make an appointment without a health card,” Kaur said.

By the time she got around to locking down her first dose, the earliest appointments at the downtown super site were in late July.

Later, Kaur received an email telling her the college would be setting up a vaccination site. So as she took care of some school-related errands Tuesday, she decided to ask if there were any open appointments.

Staff ushered her through the process, and about 25 minutes later, she had her first vaccine dose. Kaur said she was grateful for the nurse’s skill in the face of needle-phobia.

Meanwhile, Ami Tang said she was relieved she wouldn’t have to take multiple buses to the downtown super site from her home near the Notre Dame Campus. Instead, the child-care worker was getting vaccinated on her break from the on-site daycare.

Outside the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre, John Lindo was revelling in his second dose. At 64, he could’ve been fully vaccinated weeks ago, as he intended, but he got the boost he needed when he heard the centre two blocks over would be offering vaccinations.

“This is great,” he said. “I was so happy that they got it here.”

He said it was “beautiful” to see the centre catering to his community and serving people who might have trouble getting around. It’s been invigorating, he said.

“I’m like a new man.”

The mobile clinic at Central Park will again be offering walk-ins between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday. It offers Moderna vaccine to people 18 and up, and Pfizer to youth 12-17.

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

cody.sellar@freepress.mb.ca