St. Bernards Announces Additional Clinics Offering COVID Vaccine, Partnerships to Boost Vaccination Rates
JONESBORO, Ark. – In efforts to make the COVID-19 vaccine available seven days a week, St. Bernards Healthcare announced Friday it now has six clinics offering the vaccine while also forming partnerships with area churches, schools and communities for expanded access.
The healthcare system had previously provided the COVID-19 vaccine at a central location certain days of the week, but St. Bernards leaders concluded access had increasingly become an issue for some working individuals and others facing transportation difficulties.
St. Bernards Vice President of Ancillary Services LeAnn Morrow said St. Bernards aims to remove any barrier preventing someone from receiving the vaccine.
“We’ve fielded numerous requests for vaccine availability throughout the week, including the weekend,” Morrow said. “We simply believed it was the right action to take.”
St. Bernards clinics that now provide the vaccine include two Urgent Care facilities open seven days a week, three primary care clinics open five days a week and a dedicated vaccine clinic operating every Friday. While the initial clinic expansion is limited to Jonesboro, St. Bernards said it plans to expand offering the vaccine elsewhere in coming weeks. Furthermore, it will begin vaccination partnerships with Jonesboro and Nettleton Public Schools as well as Blessed Sacrament Church and Southwest Church of Christ in Jonesboro throughout the month of August.
To date, St. Bernards has administered well more than 35,000 vaccine doses. Still, CDC data shows that 64 percent of Craighead County’s population at least 12 years of age has not fully vaccinated, and 54 percent remains completely unvaccinated—despite sustained levels of high community transmission. St. Bernards Vice President of Medical Affairs Kasey Holder, M.D., said low vaccination rates certainly played a role in the expansion.
“We’ve all heard by now that ‘Research shows that the COVID-19 vaccine is the safest and most-effective way of keeping someone out of the hospital,’” Dr. Holder said. “I can tell you from first-hand experience that our hospital numbers have proven it true, time and again. The vast majority of our patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated. If there’s an immediate action you can take that will help protect yourself and your loved ones against this virus, it’s the vaccine.”
Dr. Holder added a request that individuals who receive an mRNA vaccine—those produced by Pfizer and Moderna—receive their second dose.
“The second dose of these particular vaccines really boosts the COVID antibodies present, and that’s where the biggest protection takes place with this Delta variant spreading rapidly,” she said. “We strongly encourage individuals who have only had their first dose to return for a second.”
As note, St. Bernards currently offers the Pfizer vaccine, and vaccinations between it and the Moderna vaccine should not be mixed according to the FDA.
For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine itself as well as where St. Bernards offers vaccinations, visit https://www.stbernards.info/COVID-19 or call the St. Bernards Healthline at (870) 207-7300.
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St. Bernards Healthcare, a non-profit healthcare system based in Northeast Arkansas, serves as the corporate parent of a number of healthcare entities, including the largest hospital in the region, St. Bernards Medical Center, a 440-bed acute care hospital that serves as a regional referral center for 23 counties in Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. It is the only Level III Trauma Center in the region, houses the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the eastern part of Arkansas and has served as the trusted provider of comprehensive, compassionate healthcare services for more than 120 years. For more information, please visit stbernards.info or call the St. Bernards Healthline at 870.207.7300.
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