MEXICO — Med Care Ambulance plans to hold drive-thru clinics for COVID-19 vaccinations for at least a month starting Friday with school staff, Deputy Chief Paul Landry Jr. said Thursday.
Med-Care Ambulance in Mexico will administer doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine March 13 and 15 at drive-through clinics at its headquarters at 290 Hillside Terrace, Deputy Chief Paul Landry Jr. said Thursday. Med-Care Ambulance Facebook photo
“Now that it’s opened up, we want to make sure that we’re the first one in the state holding a teacher-specific clinic,” said Landry, who is spearheading Med-Care’s program.
Prekindergarten through grade 12 school staff and childcare providers became eligible under Gov. Janet Mills’ directive announced Wednesday.
Friday’s all-day clinic will be for teachers who signed up to receive the Moderna vaccine. It will be held at Med-Care’s headquarters at 290 Highland Terrace.
Next week, Med-Care is conducting drive-through clinics for those ages 60 and older on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 9 and 10, and all time slots are already filled.
“We’re doing 100 doses each day, Landry said. “The schedule was filled in under 48 hours.”
Med-Care will also offer drive-through clinics March 13 and 15 using Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.
“The Janssen vaccine is a single-shot vaccination, so you will not need to worry about returning for a second dose,” Landry said. “We have 100 doses on each day to administer,” he said, and he advised people to sign up right away.
Med-Care plans more clinics after March 15.
“It’s going to continue for at least a month,” Landry said. “We want to be part of the big push, to get as many people vaccinated as possible, but it’s definitely a strain on the budget and on staff holding these clinics.”
“I think we will be doing close to 600 doses over the next two weeks.”
Since Dec. 30, Med-Care has administered around 500 doses of vaccine to first responders in northern Oxford County.
“It’s been quite an interesting process,” Landry said. “At one point, we had all the first responders we were trying to do and we couldn’t get enough vaccine to get going. Then we hit a point where we were still getting vaccine, but we didn’t have anyone that met the governor’s requirements that we could start vaccinating.
“And now that it’s been opened up to everyone (ages) 60 plus, as well as all the teachers, we’ve got a lot of people that need it in our little area,” he said. “So we’re going to do the best we can for a period of time to participate — get the teachers taken care of, and do as much as we can for the community and get as many vaccinations done as we can.”
How to sign up for an appointment
Appointments cannot be made by calling Med-Care.
“The only way it can be done is through the scheduling software provided by Maine EMS,” he said. “It makes it so that we have all the information before people get here and we’re able to process stuff really smoothly and move a little quicker. It also automatically schedules the second clinic for us. For people who have to come back a second time, it’s all done through this. It’s a pretty quick process.”
Clinics are announced on Med-Care’s Facebook page, which also has a direct link.
“If they click on that link from Facebook, it brings them right where they need to be to sign up,” Landry said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
