PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Nurse Kathy Conallen prepared a syringe of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and stressed to her waiting patient that she would need a second dose in four weeks to be fully immunized.
“You’re going to have to come back and see me in 28 days to get your second shot, OK?” Conallen said. “I’m going to give you this card and you bring it back in 28 days, all right?”
The patient promised. She didn’t want her name used but said she’s very serious about her health. She already had her flu shot. She also plans to get a shingles shot.
“No one wants to suffer any more when they’re homeless,” she said.
The scene unfolded inside the Hub of Hope, the homeless engagement center run by Project HOME in Suburban station.
This week, the nonprofit added COVID-19 vaccines to the list of services it provides there, the first effort targeted at a group that is among the most vulnerable but also the most hard to reach.
Right now, a small team can vaccinate 20 people a week at two two-hour clinics, but they hope to expand to four clinics a week.
Vice president for medical services Monica McCurdy is overseeing the effort.
“We knew when the vaccine was being talked about that we would have a lot of challenges about how to roll it out to this group,” McCurdy said Thursday, the second day the clinic was up and running. “We knew we’d have to come up with a way to make it as accessible and easy as possible.”
That’s not easy, she said, given the vaccine’s inherent challenges — the need for two doses and the potential for side effects that may require convalescence.
“For this group, their lives are already in disarray and trying to figure out their schedules a month from now is very difficult, so we’re going to have a challenge tracking folks down to make sure they do come back for their second dose,” McCurdy said. “And then, the side effects — any person with a house can go lay down and take Tylenol and feel better and with this group of folks , if they’re feeling a little sick from the vaccine, it’s going to be a struggle and then that’s going to a further challenge to get the second dose.”
She said the team will learn as they go along, and patients seemed satisfied at Thursday’s clinic.
Conallen’s patient said it hurt less than the flu shot and she found the process very smooth.
“It was easy,” she said as she waited under observation for 15 minutes to make sure she didn’t have an adverse reaction to the shot.
The next patient joined her and shared her assessment.
“No pain,” he said. “I think it’s going to be good. I’m glad they gave it to me.”