Due to COVID-19, Martensville Collective Health and Wellness (MCHW) will be unable to offer their usual method of flu vaccinations to the public, including the Shots for Tots event that is held each year.
Instead, this year, they will be offering a unique technique for administering flu shots. There will be a drive-through set up located at the Martensville Aquatic Centre, with no appointment necessary. “Just drive up, stay in your vehicle and receive your vaccination,” MCHW stated on their Facebook page.
“Our numbers would be very limited if we were doing it in clinic because of the amount of cleaning between every patient and the screening that would be required. We wouldn’t be able to get through as many people as there is demand in a reasonable amount of time, so we decided to do it this way to try to get the community vaccinated as soon as possible. We are expecting an increased uptake in flu vaccine this year, so we are hoping that between this clinic and the pharmacies offering vaccines that we can get everybody done as early as possible,” Dr. Allison Adamus of MCHW explained.
Flu vaccinations will be available on Monday, October 19 from 1pm-7pm, Tuesday, October 20 from 1pm to 7pm and Saturday, October 24 from 10am-2pm. Utilizing the loop within the parking lot at North Ridge Community Centre will allow for people to receive their vaccination and then move to a waiting area for 15 minutes to ensure there are no adverse reactions.
There will be 1 to 2 doctors on site for each date administering the vaccinations and able to respond to any reactions should there be any.
The space being utilized was provided by the City of Martensville, who Dr. Adamus said had been very cooperative in helping them find a location.
“I always recommend getting the flu vaccine; however, this year is more important than ever. The flu and COVID share the same symptoms, and it will always be assumed to be COVID until proven otherwise, so if we can prevent people from having symptoms and having to go through that whole rigmarole, it will be so much easier on everyone,” Dr. Adamus added.
If the demand is high, MCHW will look at adding more dates in the upcoming weeks.
Those taking part in the clinic will be asked to fill out consent forms ahead of time, which you can find more information about in the days leading up to the clinic by visiting ‘Martensville Collective Health and Wellness’ on Facebook.
