Bend Armory vaccination clinic sees lower numbers than it can handle, for variety of reasons
FEMA team official cites Covid fatigue -- and misinformation: 'Vaccines work -- they always have worked'
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A free COVID-19 vaccine clinic is taking place at the Bend Armory until Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., but it has not seen the numbers it hoped for.
Timothy Hall is a field operations leader with the FEMA Red Team, and he’s leading the free clinic.
He said the clinic, which has been open since January 25th, is giving out about 65 shots per day, nearly 400 fewer shots than it is capable of.
“We have the supply, we have the personnel. We just need the arms to put the shots in,” Hall said Monday.
He said there's a lot of reasons for the light numbers, including the number of people already vaccinated who aren’t ready for their booster yet.
While it’s hard to pinpoint the exact reason numbers are low, Covid fatigue is certainly a factor.
“Everybody in the community, in the state, in the country, are really exhausted with the Covid-19,” Hall said.
He said people reading or spreading false information is another issue.
“There are a million different pages on the internet where you can find information on Covid -- and about five of them are correct,” Hall said.
Hall is a specialist in virology, and the clinic has primary care physicians on call, but he recommends people read from sources like the New England Journal of Medicine and American Society of Virology when doing their own research.
“There’s other educational outlets out there that are for science and nothing but science, and they really don’t care who’s in office," Hall said.
As for the vaccinations themselves, Hall emphasized they are the only form of modern medicine that is preventative, rather than reactive.
“Vaccines work -- they always have worked,” Hall said.
For people on the fence, he said it’s simply risk versus reward.
“If you have the vaccine and don’t need it, it’s better than not having it and needing it,” Hall said.
