Hospital pleased with drive-through vaccination clinic

Baptist Memorial Hospital officials said they were very pleased with Tuesday’s drive-through influenza vaccination clinic.

The vaccinations are usually offered through an annual in-hospital health fair, not held this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals wanted to be able to offer the vaccinations again and saw this as an alternative.

Occupational Community Health Nurse Stephenie Hodges said they were able to give vaccinations to more than one hundred people during the two-hour event. She said hospital workers were able to deal with the patients in an orderly manner and traffic moved smoothly.

There was no cost to people receiving the vaccine. They only had to respond to a brief questionnaire to make sure there were no safety issues involved.

There are no plans for a second drive-through clinic but the hospital does offer some vaccination opportunities for workplaces and schools.