The Highlands-Cashiers Plateau Vaccine Initiative held a vaccine clinic on Saturday and Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor said it exceeded expectations.
“I was talking to Tom Neal about a week ago and we thought that it would be a small group of people,” Taylor said. “The walk-ins really came in today, especially in the afternoon. It is wonderful to see people getting their booster. It is also so gratifying to see people come in for the first time.”
Taylor said it is obvious that the initiative will have to have several more clinics in the future.
“When the boosters are required, I think we will have a lot more,” Taylor said. “The thing is Tom, and his team, designed a clinic that is quick and efficient. We can move large numbers of people in here. This is a great way to get people vaccinated very quickly.”
Highlands-Cashiers Hospital CEO Tom Neal said the clinic was outstanding.
“We definitely got more people come out than we thought we would,” Neal said. “We were able to get a lot of people that were getting their first doses. This was the first time that we did it this way, with the walk-ins and it was great to see people come off the street that were unsure. There are a lot of great people that are volunteering, and it was great to get the group back together. Everybody here wants to be here, and we are all very committed to what we are doing.”
A line formed at the end of the vaccine clinic for people who wanted to get a booster shot.
“The boosters were limited to people that are immunocompromised,” Neal said. “It is very specific criteria. So, we do screen them and if they are attesting that they have the conditions, we did give people their third shot. You have to be 28 days out from your second shot. We gave quite a few of them.”
Now that the town has mandated masks in all business areas, Neal said it is going to depend on people cooperating to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“I always come back to the three ‘W’s, wash your hands, wear your mask and wait, stay six feet apart,” Neal said. “I know people are tired and I get it. I’m tired myself, but we are not out of this. I think that we all felt good, until Delta came, and it really hit us hard. We are working through it, but the masks are going to help.”
Neal said wearing a mask is an immediate way to stop the spread of COVID.
“If you get the vaccine today, you are still going to have to wait five to six weeks before you are fully vaccinated,” Neal said. “If you put a mask on, it is immediate. I keep hearing that masks don’t work. Well, let me tell you, they do work. There is science out there to prove it. COVID is predominantly spread by droplets and those are spread when you talk, cough and any type of exhalation. The droplets are .5 microns, which is really small. A level one surgical mask will filter out anything greater than .1 microns. That is from a study from Duke. It does work, but only if people wear them.”
The vaccine initiative gave close to 350 vaccines on Saturday.
By Christopher Smith