Two facilities associated with the Longmont Housing Authority, or LHA, are scheduled to receive COVID-19 vaccines later this week, the first of Longmont’s community clinics.
On Tuesday night, Longmont City Manager Harold Dominguez reported to Longmont City Council that 70 years and older residents of The Hearthstone at Hover Crossing and Village Place Apartments will receive vaccines this week. LHA staff is working on scheduling the remaining six facilities for the following week.
LHA serves more than 800 households through their program, according to the website. Of those 70 people in the Phase 1A category of the state’s vaccine distribution plan will receive a shot, said Karen Roney, city of Longmont community services director.
This is the first time in Longmont that a clinic will go into the community to distribute the vaccine. The lack of vaccine doses has stalled Boulder County Public Health’s, or BCPH, efforts to begin community clinics earlier, Dominguez told the council.
Last week BCPH Emergency Manager Chris Cambell reported that the county received 7,000 doses of the vaccine; however, only 800 doses were distributed the week prior. Dominguez told the council that 800 doses were given to Boulder County this week.
In a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Jared Polis announced that the federal government has promised Colorado an additional 9,000 doses over the next three weeks. Some community clinics will receive doses directly from the federal distribution.
City staff have been working with BCPH to identify facilities that the community considers to be “trusted” to serve as community clinics, Dominguez told the city council. The challenge he identified was balancing the size of the facilities, ventilation and social distancing since those vaccinated are monitored 15 minutes after receiving the injection.
Currently, 59.8 percent of Boulder County residents in the 70 years and older group have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Of those, 98 percent identify as white while 5.3% identify as Hispanic/Latinx. According to information shared by Dominguez, around 94 percent of white residents in Phase 1A have received at least one dose of the vaccine compared to 2.7 percent of Hispanics. These numbers have not changed much from last week due to the lack of vaccine, he said.
“They (BCPH) are starting to test this concept of going out to locations,” he said. “I think once we get through this, we will have a better sense of how they (BCPH) will get into more targeted populations.”
