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New Orleans Opens Mass Vaccination Site That Can Take 900 People A Day

Phoebe Jones
/
WWNO
The mass COVID-19 vaccination site at New Orleans' Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. March 4, 2020.

The mass COVID-19 vaccination site at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is now open.

After a test run on Wednesday, administering first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to roughly 780 patients, LCMC planned to vaccinate about 900 people with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Thursday.

Patients enter the convention center’s spacious Hall J, where they are guided to a station with a tablet that allows them to find and print the barcode associated with their appointments. Then they head to the vaccination area, where several LCMC staff members administer the vaccines.

Gretna resident Anthony Smith winced tightly when the needle pricked his right bicep, but he said the shot didn’t hurt. Even if it had, he was determined to be vaccinated.

“I don't believe they're gonna give us nothing that’s gonna hurt us even worse than what we've been through,” Smith said.

Credit Phoebe Jones / WWNO
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WWNO
Anthony Smith received Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center COVID-19 mass vaccination site. March 4, 2020.

He said he watched his aunt pass away from COVID-19. She was the second person in his family to die of the virus and the last of her siblings, including Smith’s mother, still living.

“She’s been the glue that held this family together since all of her sisters and brothers passed,” Smith said.

He said in his neighborhood at least 14 people have died of COVID-19, four from the same family household. Still, he said, many people in his area are hesitant about getting the vaccine. He’s leading by example.

“So I kind of figured I’m [going to ] break the mold for ‘em. I'm gonna come get the shot and if you see me still walking, you know it's all right,” Smith said.

Smith added that he would have taken whatever vaccine was available to him.

But Kiva Dixon, a nurse at East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, said she is glad that she and her mother received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. She appreciated that it requires just one shot and she was further set at ease by the brand recognition.

“We had Johnson & Johnson from a baby,” Dixon said. “My grand-baby got Johnson & Johnson at home right now. It ain’t killing us.”

Credit Phoebe Jones / WWNO
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WWNO
Kiva Dixon hugs her mother after the two receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center COVID-19 mass vaccination site. March 4, 2020.

After Dixon and her mother received their shots, they hugged tightly. They said they were relieved to not be added to the list of people they know who have died from COVID-19.

“I know a lot of people who die from this virus, and I need to live. So if I'm gonna take a chance on my life, I'm gonna take a chance on getting the vaccine,” Dixon said.

The convention center’s Hall J can accommodate many more than 900 vaccinations a day. LCMC hopes to ramp up to 3,000 vaccinations a day, seven days a-week, between eight and 10 hours a day by April, Dr. Jeffery Elder, medical director of emergency management said.

Credit Phoebe Jones / WWNO
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WWNO
New Orleanians wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. March 4, 2020.

The only thing stopping them from ramping up is vaccine allocations. Demand for vaccines still far outnumbers supply.

“The doses aren't here yet. And so that's kind of our one rate-limiting step. We could actually be doing double and triple the amount of vaccines here really easily just based on the number of people we have working, just based off of vaccine allocations,” Elder said.

Louisiana received a record 135,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week, including 38 thousand doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines. However in a press conference on Tuesday, state health officer, Dr. Joseph Kanter said the state will likely not receive more Johnson & Johnson vaccines until the end of March.

Elder said there are less than 30 COVID patients in the University Medical Center hospital, compared to more than 175 in December and roughly 400 last March.

Johnson & Johnson will be used at the convention center for vaccinations through Saturday, then patients will receive Pfizer vaccines next Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

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