Over 162,900 COVID vaccines have been administered in New Mexico. That means more than 60% of those in Phase 1A have already been vaccinated.
New Mexico Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins says the state intends to offer the vaccine to the general public by mid-2021. The state began its effort by targeting the most vulnerable populations.
“We started in Phase 1A with health care personnel, frontline and also first responders, those taking care of patients. We’ve now opened up the initial part of Phase 1B, which are individuals 75 years of age or older,” Collins said. “We will then move to individuals who are 16 or older with underlying medical conditions, followed by frontline essential workers and vulnerable populations.”
In a recent press conference, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham addressed how distribution is expected to increase with the opening of more community vaccination sites.
“The community vaccination sites, which we're launching here, are very effective,” Lujan Grisham said. “It means that we can move many more people, which means we can increase vaccine distribution. You should expect us to do more of that and to do more in partnership with our hospitals so that we're increasing the number of vaccines we can get into arms.”
One such vaccination site is located on the New Mexico State University Campus, where an average of more than 600 doses are distributed at each weekly event. It’s one of multiple vaccination sites in Doña Ana County.
NMSU COVID Project Manager Jon Webster says the university has had an ongoing relationship with the New Mexico Department of Health, organizing both COVID testing and vaccination efforts.
“The coordination has been ongoing,” Webster said. “Unfortunately, with the quick rollout of the vaccine, for our first one we had about four days to plan it. So, it’s a huge coordination with the state, the county, the city and NMSU volunteers to get them out there to the site to do what we need to do because this is all volunteer based and over 75 volunteers for each vaccination pot.”
Members of the NMSU community make up the majority of volunteers, which include nursing staff and students as well as others from Aggie Health and Wellness.
Webster encourages the general public to register for the vaccine on the New Mexico Department of Health’s website. Once the Department of Health has reached out and the appointment is confirmed, he stresses the need to arrive on time.
“Don't show up an hour early because all it does is create a bottleneck within the parking lot,” Webster says. “Because we are still going to stage you for your correct time, and you will just sit there and wait…If you arrive pretty close to your time, your expectation to get through would be anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.”
NMSU reports no vaccination doses have gone to waste, with any leftover doses immediately being transferred to a different vaccination site in need of additional resources. Webster says his main goal is to get the vaccine to as many people as possible.
“It’s tedious. This is something we've never done before,” Webster said. “We want to make sure that we have enough doses, not only for the first rounds, but the essential dose which is that second round. So that's the biggest takeaway that we're learning is on top of that, everyone wants it, we get it, we know everyone wants the vaccine, and we want everyone to have it from our point of view.”
