EVANSTON — The first large clinic to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Uinta County residents aged 70 and up was held at the Uinta County School District No. 1 bus barn in Evanston — which also serves as a county emergency operations center — on Monday, Jan. 18, when staffers from multiple county organizations came together to ensure the clinic ran smoothly.

Uinta County Public Health announced the clinic last week and asked those 70 and older who were interested in being vaccinated to register beforehand. According to public health nurse manager Kim Proffit, approximately 700 county residents registered in hopes of being vaccinated during the first clinics. During a weekly COVID update on Friday, Jan. 15, Proffit said the plan was to vaccinate approximately 600 people this week between Monday’s Evanston clinic and another planned for the Bridger Valley on Friday. However, as healthcare workers in the county have demonstrated the ability to get vaccines administered quickly, the county was able to procure 100 more doses of vaccine than had been anticipated and Proffit said she believes everyone who registered will be able to be vaccinated this week.

Monday morning saw staff members with the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office and Evanston Police Department handling traffic control and directing people through four bays at the bus barn for the drive-thru clinic. Inside each bay, residents were first greeted by staff members with clipboards and consent forms to receive the vaccination before being directed to healthcare personnel administering the shots. With two people giving shots in each bay, multiple occupants in a vehicle could receive shots almost simultaneously.

After receiving the vaccines, vehicles were directed to another area being staffed by first responders and EMTs, where people were asked to park and wait for 15 minutes to monitor for any adverse reactions to the shots. Signs directed people to honk their horns if they began experiencing any difficulties and help would be immediately available.

Meanwhile, other staffers worked upstairs in the bus barn to ensure that every single vaccination was documented in an electronic database, as required by the federal government. Through the combined efforts of public health, staff from Evanston Regional Hospital and the Wyoming State Hospital, healthcare professionals from home health and other local healthcare providers, EPD and the UCSO, Uinta County Fire and Ambulance crews, the Evanston school district and more, approximately 450 vaccinations were reportedly given in about four hours in what Proffit described as an “amazing collaboration.”

Those who received the vaccinations on Monday will receive a notice to return for a second dose in four weeks to complete the series. In clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 95% effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness. Proffit said the hope is to set up a similar clinic for the second doses, although the details are still being worked out.

While directing traffic, Uinta County Sheriff Doug Matthews said he was very impressed with how smoothly the clinic was running, noting that it had surpassed his expectations. Patricia Arnold, staffing one of the drive-thru bays, said they’d received many comments from the public about how impressed they were with the ease of the entire process. Arnold said she was happy to be involved and noted how grateful many people were to be receiving the vaccine.

Evanston resident Irene Hansen took to Facebook on Monday afternoon after receiving her vaccination. “Uinta County healthcare professionals, fire department, law enforcement, ambulance personnel,” she wrote, “can’t thank you enough for such an organized and well-planned COVID vaccination clinic today. It is difficult to put together something like this and your efforts do not go unnoticed. Thank you!” Numerous other people responded to her post with their own words of gratitude and appreciation.

Proffit said crews working on Monday were able to utilize all doses in opened bottles of vaccine, so no doses were wasted. Once a vial is opened, all doses must be used within six hours. Additionally, she said there were some people who had registered to be vaccinated who are homebound and were unable to attend Monday’s clinic. On Tuesday, Jan. 19, crews planned to make home visits to vaccinate those folks.

Recent news from the Wyoming Department of Health underscores the importance of the vaccination clinics. On Saturday, Jan. 16, the WDH announced the so-called “UK variant” of the COVID-19 virus has been identified in Wyoming. According to Wyoming State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist, the variant is “more transmissible than previous COVID-19 variants and that is a serious concern. Although the UK variant does not appear to cause more serious illness,” Harrist said, “a variant spreading more easily between people means the number of infections could grow, causing more illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. That’s something no one wants.”

Although the new variant is more easily transmissible, the vaccines are still effective in preventing severe illness from the new strain.

The WDH also confirmed 33 additional COVID-19 fatalities, including a Uinta County woman, last week, bringing the state’s total confirmed fatalities due to COVID-19 illness to 522. Uinta County has now had nine confirmed fatalities. Proffit said the two most recent deaths were in Uinta County residents who were admitted to long-term care facilities out of state. Fatalities are reported in an individual’s primary place of residence.

Proffit said there are current ongoing discussions at the WDH regarding which groups will be next in line to be vaccinated. According to documents on the WDH website regarding priority sub-groups for vaccination in the current 1B phase, populations after the 70-plus age group include National Guard members likely to be activated for pandemic response, in-person employees in congregate settings, healthcare providers not previously vaccinated, K-12 teachers and support staff, child care providers, grocery store and food processing and manufacturing employees, and postal service and package delivery workers. However, Proffit said it’s possible the WDH may change those priority levels as a result of new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that may alter the priority list such that those 65 and older and those with medical conditions that carry higher risk for severe illness are next in line.

Proffit said the county is awaiting word from WDH to see if the prioritization of sub-groups has changed before planning any further first-shot clinics beyond Friday’s in the Bridger Valley. She said waiting for further guidance will work out well because the county will also be waiting to receive more vaccine doses after utilizing everything available for this week’s clinics.

According to data on the WDH website, Wyoming has received 40,975 vaccine first doses, approximately 23,000 of which had been administered as of Monday, Jan. 18. The same site notes that 17,800 second doses had been received, with 3,746 administered. The site notes that data are up to 72 hours behind on the number of actual doses administered and that the data do not include counts administered by the federal government at tribal, veterans and military facilities. The initial second doses in Uinta County are due to be given at the end of this week, four weeks after the first doses were administered to 20 ERH staff members just after Christmas.

Active cases in Uinta County have remained high since November, although weekly new cases have declined from a high of 140 the week ending Nov. 20 and 186 the week ending Nov. 27. There were 92 new cases confirmed in Uinta County last week, for a total of 1,794 cases since the pandemic began. The Wyoming Information Sharing Platform reported 233 active cases in the county as of Monday, Jan. 18.

The situation in neighboring Utah continues to be concerning, said Proffit, with ICU utilization at large referring hospitals at approximately 96% of capacity last week.