28.03.2024

Some Vaccination Clinics Rescheduling Ahead of Weekend Snowstorm

Sunrise Community Health in Weld County is taking a much different approach this weekend. CEO Mitzi Moran tells CBS4 she made the decision Wednesday to reschedule three clinics.

While the incoming winter storm is not expected to affect vaccine deliveries to our state, organizers of vaccination clinics may have to consider adjusting their plans. The City of Denver tells CBS4 it is still in “preparation mode” for a Sunday clinic at Bear Valley Library and will make any determinations about closing the site when the storm gets closer.

Appointments for the event are already booked. If the site is closed, Denver will contact patients directly to reschedule, a spokesperson said.

According to Moran, a first-dose clinic scheduled for Saturday morning will now be held this Friday, and a Saturday afternoon second-dose clinic has been rescheduled for March 20.

Sunrise Community Health was also scheduled to host an equity clinic on Sunday, focused on vaccinating 1,000 people from the Latino community. It will now be held March 21 instead.

“We felt like making the call this morning to postpone gave us enough time to get ahold of people, to reschedule, to have an organized rescheduling as opposed to a frantic mess this weekend,” Moran said.

The change of plans will come with some complications, Moran said. One of those will be making sure no doses of vaccine go to waste. On Wednesday, the clinic still received its full allocation of the Pfizer vaccine for the three scheduled clinics.

“We have two weeks that we can use that,” Moran said. “That has got to get in arms, so we did not have many choices about when to reschedule.”

Communication with patients, many of whom speak Spanish, will also be critical. On Wednesday, groups like the Latino Coalition of Weld County started the work. Latinos Unidos of Greeley, the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado, and Hispanic Women of Weld County will also help.

“We’re calling people, texting people – I’m in my car going to the places that we’ve hung up our posters to write the new date,” said Deb Suniga, public relations director for the Latino Coalition of Weld County.

Suniga believes the new date could present a new opportunity for organizers. Currently about 500 of the 1,000 spots are full, so now organizers will have more time to find patients.

They’re also hopeful more people could be eligible for the vaccine by the time of the rescheduled clinic. According to the state’s vaccine distribution plan, 1B.4 is expected to begin on or around the March 21.

“We want to make sure that we get those thousand vaccinations in the arms of the Latino population here in Weld County,” Suniga said.

No matter the weather or circumstances, Moran says that mission remains the same.

“I have faith that we will get word to people, we will get the communication out, but it is a massive lift four days before your event,” she said.

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