During the test for mass coronavirus vaccine, Ochsner administers 1,200 doses of Metairie Coronavirus

Just before 1:30 a.m. Wednesday afternoon, Joyce Girard was patiently sitting in her nephew’s car in the Shrine parking lot on the airline.

Girard, 70, was about to receive his first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine as part of a 1,200-dose test by Ochsner Health at the Metairie baseball facility on Wednesday afternoon. The event, the second vaccination process conducted in Jefferson Parish in as many days as possible, is a preview of what Ochsner and parish officials hope will become much larger events in the coming months.

Ochsner’s spokeswoman Katie Fauquier called it a “test” of what Ochsner wants to do around the state. Staff at other locations were working in Metairie and hoping to take lessons back to other areas, such as Baton Rouge, she said.

The process worked as follows: Patients arrived at the scheduled time, checked in, and then entered the large parking lot west of the stadium. There, they were directed to one of six lanes where medical workers with pre-mixed syringes threw them into their arms. Then they entered a parking lot for observation. Getting scheduled for the first shot also gives them another meeting in three weeks from now for the second shot.

For many Wednesdays, the process from arrival to taking the photo took less than 20 minutes.

Girard, from New Orleans, had arrived early for her meeting at 1:50, and as she spoke, her nephew advanced the SUV to the tent where he would get his vaccine.

“I feel happy,” she said as she waited. – I want the vaccine.

Moments later, as Girard waited 15 minutes after seeing the vaccine in her nephew’s car, she said it was an almost painless process.

“It was easy,” she said.

Once fully armed with the vaccine, Girard said he hoped to see more members of his family, including her daughter, many of whom had kept their distance because of fears of COVID.

Girard’s experience was repeated by a number of other people who attended the meetings on Wednesday. Unlike test sites, which usually take all the people who came, vaccines were only available to those who made their first meeting either through Ochsner’s online portal or by phone. In order to obtain an appointment, they had to meet the state’s criteria: over 65 years of age or in one of the other groups that are eligible to be vaccinated according to the state’s current limited supply.

When they arrived at the Altar, the appointment holders who filled in the necessary documents ahead of time were directed to one of the six vaccination routes. Those who did not were diverted to the side, where they completed the documents and then drove a winding path – not unlike the line for a walk to Walt Disney World – leading to one of the six vaccination lanes.

Dawn Pevey, the Ochsner official who oversees much of the operation, said the site could be expanded from 1,200 vaccines to probably up to 7,000-8,000 when the vaccine supply finally allows. In the first hour, she said, the crew of 120 people at the scene had handled about a quarter of Wednesday’s appointments.

Just a few feet from where Pevey Mauk spoke, pharmacists gathered around a table in an air-conditioned trailer. There, they took the doses of Pfizer vaccine out of the chillers and shot them in? them in syringes for injection. Once out of the cooler, the vaccine is good for only six hours, so staff had to work as efficiently as possible to keep the six strips stored but not outdated.

Gary and Stephanie Catoir of Metairie managed to cross the line quickly. Stephanie Catoir said she hopes to go to her sister in Colorado once she is completely vaccinated again; Gary Catoir said he is looking forward to seeing the children in his neighborhood again.

They both praised the vaccination site.

“They have this so well organized,” Stephanie Catoir said.