Tom McLeod, an EMT with Metro West Ambulance, readies a second dose of the Moderna vaccine at a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Centennial Park in Woodburn, Ore. on Thursday, April 1, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
Scheduled outdoor vaccination clinics and events in the Salem area will go on as planned Friday and over the weekend despite a heat wave expected to break local records.
Salem Health will operate its mass vaccination clinic at the state fairgrounds in Salem during its usual hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and will have cool shelter available if lines form, spokeswoman Lisa Wood said.
The healthcare provider is offering mobile vaccine clinics at several local elementary schools and other sites in Salem Friday and Saturday.
Those include Lamb Elementary and Swegle Elementary from 2 to 6 p.m. Friday, and Blanchet Elementary from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday.
On Saturday, clinics will be offered at the State Street Soccer Fields from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the East Salem Community Center from 3 to 6:30 p.m. A complete list is available on the Salem Health website.
“For outdoor clinics, plans are in place to keep the team and participants cool. Vaccine is stored in mobile refrigerators that meet the vaccine storage requirements, and vials can be removed on-demand. Mobile vaccine clinics are equipped with generators should there be a power outage,” Wood said in an email.
A scheduled vaccine clinic at Chemeketa Community College on Saturday will also go on as planned, spokeswoman Marie Hullet said. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., shots will be available on the Salem campus in building 7 in the gym lobby. More information is available on the Chemeketa website.
-Rachel Alexander
