COVID-19 vaccine? 10 places to get shot in Gaston County on Saturday

Kara Fohner
·4 min read
Pharmacist intern Graham Sprinkles prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine as free vaccination shots were offered in the parking lot of Mt. Zion Restoration Church on Crescent Lane in Gastonia early Thursday morning, Dec. 16, 2021.
Pharmacist intern Graham Sprinkles prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine as free vaccination shots were offered in the parking lot of Mt. Zion Restoration Church on Crescent Lane in Gastonia early Thursday morning, Dec. 16, 2021.

A countywide "vaxathon" will target communities where fewer people are vaccinated by offering 10 different vaccine clinics at the same time on Saturday, Feb. 5.

Lisa Marisiddaiah, a faith community nurse who acts as a liaison to the Gaston County Health Department and leads Gastonia Parish Nurse Ministry, said that she got the idea for the event from her son's girlfriend, who is from New Zealand.

"And they had over 100,000 people vaccinated in their country in a day," she said. "And so I threw it out there to my team, and they were receptive."

Marisiddaiah worked with the Gaston County health department to organize the event, looking at maps of the county to pinpoint parts of the county where there are the least numbers of people vaccinated, "so that we could make it accessible to those folks if it was in fact that they were lacking transportation."

"The other thing about having it on a Saturday is, oftentimes when the large scale events occur, they were always on a Monday through Friday. So I try to do my clinics on the evenings or the weekends at varying hours … to just reach those people who can't as easily get away from work if they are working folks," she said.

Marisiddaiah planned the event in less than a month, coordinating with private pharmacies to set up clinics in Cherryville, Bessemer City, Gastonia, Dallas Lowell, Stanley, Belmont and Mount Holly. The vaccines produced by Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson will be offered at the clinics.

Boosters are recommended for anyone who had the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines at least five months ago or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago.

The clinics will all be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5. The event had been scheduled for Jan. 23, but was postponed due to possible snowy weather.

"It would have been nicer to have a longer stretch, but that's a big time commitment for a lot of people, and we're doing this as a trial," Marisiddaiah said. "If one person is vaccinated at each site, we've done good."

The sites at Holbrook Middle School and Oak Grove Park Road will have resources for Spanish speaking people.

Marisiddaiah said that hospitals are overwhelmed dealing with the surge of Omicron cases.

"The hospitals are full, and something I heard (from) one of my colleagues who's a medical doctor — 80% of the COVID patients were unvaccinated, and the other 20% of the COVID patients were people who had not received their second dose or their booster. I think the data shows that we're really in a situation where people need to complete their vaccine cycle," she said.

The positivity rate in Gaston County is up to 36%. Marisiddaiah says she has a colleague that was hospitalized for COVID-19 and recently put on a ventilator.

"This is something that like, you know, it's very close. … And so I know I probably get on people's nerves with stuff that I post, and I'm persistent with just trying to educate people," she said. "When people, especially early on, had an opinion to not be vaccinated, I always try to … respect opinions, but I want them to have an educated decision."

"I've just seen so much of this virus touch people very close, and it's something that I want to have an impact myself — at least do my part," she added.

Places to go for vaccine

The COVID-19 Vaxathon will be offered at the following locations from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 5:

  • Cherryville Elementary School: 700 E. Academy St., Cherryville

  • Bessemer City High School: 119 Yellow Jacket Lane, Bessemer City

  • Gaston County Health Department: 991 W. Hudson Blvd., Gastonia

  • Jail Annex Parking Lot: N. York St. and W. Walnut Ave., Gastonia

  • Gaston County Public Library: 1555 E. Garrison Blvd., Gastonia

  • Oak Grove Park Road, Dallas: Oak Grove Park Road and Lower Dallas Highway (If there is bad weather, this location will move to Venture Church at 800 E. Main St., Dallas.)

  • Holbrook Middle School: 418 S. Church St., Lowell

  • Common Ground Campus: 5481 Hickory Grove Road, Stanley

  • North Belmont Elementary: 210 School St., Belmont

  • Moose Pharmacy: 125 W. Central Ave., Mount Holly

Graham Sprinkles gives the COVID-19 vaccine to Jacquelin Hernandez, 13, Monday afternoon, July 19, 2021, at Medical Center Pharmacy on Cox Road.
Graham Sprinkles gives the COVID-19 vaccine to Jacquelin Hernandez, 13, Monday afternoon, July 19, 2021, at Medical Center Pharmacy on Cox Road.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: COVID-19 vaccine? 10 places to get shot in Gaston County on Saturday