Saturday marks Colorado Springs’ first mass vaccination drive-thru
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Saturday marked a big day for vaccinations in southern Colorado with Colorado Springs' first mass vaccination drive-thru and other highly attended clinics.
Organizers say the drive-thru at the Broadmoor World Arena Saturday was a success. Despite frigid temperatures, more than two thousand people were partially protected from COVID-19 on day one.
The vaccinations were administered by Centura Health to eligible people who made appointments.
Sunday's drive-thru has been canceled due to severe weather. All people scheduled for that day will be pushed to next Saturday, February 20th.
"This is how the pandemic ends one arm at a time, and we're getting this done here in Colorado," said Governor Jared Polis when he visited the drive-thru.
Governor Polis also visited UCHealth Memorial today, where another two thousand people 65 and older got their vaccines.
The Governor said he's happy with the number of vaccines now coming into the state.
"It's reliable, it's going up, not down - that's good," he explained. "It's twice a week, and we're trying to accelerate even more of it."
Vaccines were also administered to educators north of Denver in Lafayette Saturday -- and Kaiser Permanente started its mass vaccination plan this weekend with sixteen clinics across the state.
"I barely even felt the needle when it went in," teacher John Macfarlane told KRDO at the Briargate clinic. "It was very similar to a flu shot."
People eligible to get their vaccines at the Kaiser clinics will get an invitation by email, text, or letter to make an appointment. No walk-ins are allowed. They're confident they'll have first and second doses available for everyone notified.
"The supply's actually been really good," said Erik Lloyd with Kaiser Permanente. "It's been consistent and we've been able to give vaccines to everybody that’s been scheduled."
The Governor's Office said over 600,000 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Colorado so far, and the supply chain is expected to ramp up.
Meanwhile, Mayor John Suthers assured people many more vaccines are now in the Colorado Springs area.
"We had 25,000 doses come to El Paso County this week," Mayor Suthers said.
