The Perryville Board of Aldermen reviewed the vaccine distribution which took place Jan. 29 at the Perry Park Center. The second round of vaccinations is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19. Appointments for those who got a shot in late January were setup from between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
“I think once everything got going, we got 1,000 shots in arms in six hours,” said Perryville Parks Director Jim Cadwell at the Feb. 2 Board of Aldermen meeting. “We were doing about 200 shots an hour, which is pretty good.”
Cadwell said a meeting with health department and other officials was planned for early February.
“We think we’ve got some ideas to go a little bit smoother next time out,” Cadwell said.
Alderman Prince Hudson sought answers about the event’s organization.”Did the health department put that all together? Were we involved at all, or were they just borrowing our facility?”
“I respectively made a few suggestions to the young lady at the door (of the health department),” alderman Larry Riney said. “It was probably a day late and a dollar short for them to change what they were going to do. Originally, the health department had asked the Park Center not to let anyone in building who was wanting a shot until 6:30. Mr. Cadwell basically said, ‘I don’t think that’s going to be acceptable with the temperatures being what they’re being.’ The health department relinquished that idea.
“Jim moved some bleachers out to accommodate as many people as what you may consider reasonable in that area. As it turns out, you had people showing up at 5 in the morning for a shot that didn’t happen until 7 (a.m.). With that...we had people everywhere inside the building, not to mention outside the building, which I did drive through the park and witness.
“I don’t think we’re gonna have that again,” Riney said.
Hudson thought a better plan could be implemented.
“It’d be pretty simple, (to) say if you’re name begins with A, B, C, whatever, show up at this time...to have all those people lined up out in the cold, most of them my age or older, it didn’t look very good on any of us,” Hudson said. “I think it’s a great idea to use that building down there to give the shots, but you can’t have all these older people standing out there in this colder weather. That just shouldn’t happen...I just don’t understand it.”