COVID-19 Vaccinations Begin in Rio Vista

On Thursday, January 21^st, the Trilogy Vista Club was the site of a well-attended COVID-19 vaccination clinic for Rio Vista residents. Kaiser Permanente administered 1583 injections of Moderna vaccine to local residents age 75 and older. As early as 6:00 AM, people began lining up outside the Vista Club for their inoculations.

The doors opened promptly at 9:00 AM. Attendees started at the reception/registration table where they filled out a half-page medical questionnaire. From there they were greeted by medical personnel at the 15 stations where they received their first dose of the vaccine.

The auditorium-sized Vista Club was chosen so that vaccine recipients could be observed for at least 15 minutes to ensure that no one had a severe reaction to their injection. Benjamin Gammon, chief EMT and event coordinator, said that no patients experienced adverse reactions to the inoculations. Even with the large crowd, most people were done within 90 minutes, including waiting time in line.

The clinic was made possible by the cooperation of Kaiser Permanente, The County of Solano Department of Public Health, The City of Rio Vista, and The Trilogy Homeowners Association. The idea for the clinic arose when Rio Vista Mayor Ron Kott extended a speaking invitation to the Solano County Director of Health and Human Services. Mayor Kott was subsequently put in touch with Ted Selby, Solano County head of vaccination programs. While speaking with Mr. Selby, the subject of the call changed and the mayor relates, “…our discussion led to the problems people were having getting their COVID-19 shots. He (Ted) then asked if Rio Vista might be interested in hosting a pilot vaccination clinic. He said that the county had about 1,000 doses that could be available for such a program and that our city might be a good test to work out a rollout process.”

The mayor quickly accepted. From that point, the challenge became putting all the pieces together for the proposed clinic on January 21^st in only 5 days (one of which was Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday). Thanks to the Trilogy Homeowners Association, Solano County, Kaiser Permanente, the City of Rio Vista administration staff, and our RVFD Chief Jeff Armstrong the event came off with barely a hitch.

There is no charge for the COVID-19 vaccine. The second injection necessary for full effectiveness will be administered during a scheduled February 18^threturn clinic. A lot was learned from this clinic and future ones are expected to go smoother and faster according to event organizers.