Republic file photo A social distancing decal is placed on the floor in an observation area for people that received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a Columbus Regional Health facility in Columbus on Dec. 17.
Columbus Regional Health officials administered nearly 47,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines at an emergency standalone clinic near the hospital campus that recently closed due to waning demand for the shots.
The clinic, located at 1702 Keller Ave., closed its doors on Jan. 25 for what could be the final time, just over 13 months after it was set up in a matter of weeks to form a core piece of the largest mass vaccination effort in Bartholomew County history.
A total of 46,950 vaccine doses were administered at the clinic from Dec. 17, 2020 to Jan. 23, 2022, fully vaccinating more than 21,000 people, including 670 children, the hospital said. During its peak, the clinic was administering as many as 2,000 vaccines per week. Its highest day was 455 vaccines.
“It’s pretty impressive,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
The clinic opened Dec. 17, 2020 as the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines starting arriving in Columbus just days after federal regulators authorized the shots for emergency use.
At the time, local health officials characterized the arrival of the vaccines as a glimmer of hope and the first shipment came just as Columbus was entering the most deadly stretch of the pandemic so far.
The virus killed 38 people in Columbus and the surrounding area in the week leading up to the opening of the clinic, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Another 68 people would die by the end of 2020, including a record 10 deaths in one day on Dec. 29, 2020.
So far, 232 Bartholomew County residents have died from the virus over the course of the pandemic.
But even as the shots were proven safe and effective at preventing severe illness and death, demand for the vaccines started waning by summer 2021, prompting hospital officials to close the clinic’s doors.
By that time, 41,430 doses had been given out at the clinic — enough to fully vaccinated 20,715 people.
However, officials reopened the clinic in October as they prepared for booster shots and expanded eligibility for younger children. Yet vaccination rates in Bartholomew County still remain below national levels and where CRH and other local health officials would like them to be.
Currently, 62% of eligible Bartholomew County residents are fully vaccinated, compared to the national rate of 68%. And just 56% of Bartholomew County residents who are eligible for a booster shot have gotten one. Nearly 81% of eligible Americans have received at least one dose, compared to just 64% of eligible Bartholomew County residents.
CRH officials have described the standalone clinic in the past as a “huge undertaking” but are prepared to reopen it in case it is needed once again.
“We’re always ready,” DeClue said. “If there is a need that’s identified to spin that back up, obviously, we can easily do that.”
