HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE -- Hundreds of people turned out, masked and socially distanced, to receive their first COVID-19 vaccination at Balboa Baptist Church on Wednesday, and more are expected to do so again today and many days to come as more vaccine becomes available.
Village Health Mart No. 1 set up the vaccination clinic in Balboa Baptist Church to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to eligible people who signed a waiting list. They did not have to be a Village resident to participate.
Pharmacy owner Michael Butler said about 270 people were vaccinated by his pharmacy on Tuesday, about 970 on Wednesday, and about 1,000 are expected today. Personnel from two local school districts will be vaccinated on Friday.
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Of the vaccinations already given by his pharmacy, Butler said no adverse reactions have been observed or reported.
While the state is currently in part of Phase 1-B of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan, Butler said people in Phase 1-A are still eligible to receive the vaccine.
"Anyone who was missed during that time period, we are getting them in as they contact us," Butler said. "In theory, anyone who has missed out who has been approved to get the vaccine, we'll fit them in. At a clinic we did (Tuesday), we did probably half a dozen or more 1-A. In theory, hopefully we're going to consume the majority of 1-A and 1-B before we get to 1-C. There will be some stragglers, and we know that, so in the process we anticipate just to fit them in as needed."
ADH Public Information Officer Danyelle McNeill previously told The Sentinel-Record on Jan. 12 that, "We feel it's important to move on as soon as possible to the next phase. Unfortunately, this may mean that people who are slow to accept the vaccine may miss their opportunity."
On Wednesday, McNeill clarified that while people don't become ineligible to receive the vaccine, if they pass on getting the vaccine under the phase in which they are grouped they will likely have to wait for vaccination longer.
"The phases are moving forward and vaccination of as many people as possible in each phase is the goal," McNeill said. "As of right now, vaccine is limited and is used as it's received. So, if someone passes on the opportunity to be vaccinated in their group, they may have to wait longer for the next opportunity."
In that regard, pharmacy wait lists are long and growing.
Butler, who also owns East Gate Pharmacy and Fountain Lake Family Pharmacy, said the combined waiting list for his three pharmacies had more than 3,000 people on it two weeks ago and has since averaged 300 new people added to it daily. These people come from all over Garland County.
"We're not only taking care of Hot Springs Village, we're also going to do some clinics in Hot Springs," Butler said. "We've also set up with the Office of Emergency Management director (and) plan on being able to utilize the Garland County Fairgrounds so we've kind of drawn out a plan and we think we can probably turn way more than the number we're able to do here, which is about 1,000 a day. So I'm hoping, based on supplies, we could do 2,000-plus people a day at the fairgrounds. So we worked with the fire, police department, ambulance services, plenty of volunteers and we've got that set up so as soon as (the vaccine doses are) available we'll do that."
OEM Director Bo Robertson confirmed city agencies, in coordination with local pharmacies, clinics and the Oaklawn Center on Aging, plan to have a mass vaccination site at the Garland County Fairgrounds with people 70 and older being prioritized, but it is dependent on when there is an adequate supply of vaccine to do so.
About 50,000 doses of the vaccine are currently coming into the state every week, according to the ADH, but Butler said he expects that to increase.
For Village Health Mart No. 1, he said he receives about 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine at a time, but Butler said they are getting "roughly an extra dose per vial, so it's a little over 1,100 shots per box" and they aim to use 100% of what they get as it comes in.
"Luckily, Pfizer has ramped up their production," he said. "They anticipated, I hear, a billion doses by the end of the year so that should take care of our needs."
McNeill said ADH gets vaccine shipments each week, but they are divided into first and second doses.
"In some cases, places may get a shipment for first doses and then later receive the follow-up shipment of second doses," she said. "The second dose will be allocated when needed as the time arrives. We are anticipating an increase in allocation over time, but we don't have finalized details on when that will occur."
With the allocation of the second dose being secured, Butler said people who come in to get their first dose of the vaccine are immediately being scheduled to return 21 days later for their second.
The governor allowed people 70 and older and educators to be eligible for vaccination as of Monday. This is only part of the groups of people in Phase 1-B, but Butler said that currently makes for about 443,000 eligible Arkansans.
Since the state is getting about 50,000 doses a week, "just that alone says it's going to take multiple weeks just to take care of those patients, and then in 21 days we have to turn around and re-administer a dose to those patients," he said.
As Phase 1-B progresses, other groups of people who will be eligible for vaccination include food/agriculture workers; firefighters and police not in 1-A; manufacturing workers; grocery store workers; public transit workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; and essential government workers.
Phase 1-C is currently estimated to begin in April, and will be for people 65 and older; people 16-64 years old with high-risk medical conditions; and workers in transportation and logistics; water and wastewater; food service; shelter and housing; finance; IT and communications; energy; media; public safety and public health workers.
Butler said he estimates it will take nine months to a year before Phase 1-C is done and the general population will be eligible for vaccination. He already plans to conduct weekly COVID-19 vaccination clinics throughout 2021.
"For my point of view, I'm saying we're doing our best," he said. "We are doing an online waiting list. We are getting through them as quick and as properly as possible, and then also we're trying to not administer them at the pharmacies because obviously the pharmacy has its set clientele to come and go as it is.
"So I'm saying be patient with us. If you did sign up with us, or have not signed up with us definitely you can go to the websites."
The websites to be placed on a waiting list for Butler's pharmacies include https://stores.healthmart.com/villagepharmacy1, https://www.fountainlakefamilypharmacy.com and https://www.villagehealthmart.com/locations/east-gate-pharmacy.
A full list of pharmacies in the state offering the COVID-19 vaccine can be found at https://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/covid-19-map-of-1-a-pharmacy-locations.
