Typically when in the supermarket people may pick up the odd impulse item or two, but chances are a COVID-19 booster shot would not be on anyone’s list.
However, that was not the case for shopper Sharon Jocson who rolled up her sleeve to get her COVID booster shot at the Health Services Authority’s community outreach clinic at Foster’s Airport store on Thursday night.
“It’s the convenience for me. I just finished work. I go shopping and, of course, I see [HSA’s] offsite [set-up] here so there’s an opportune time to take it,” Jocson told the Cayman Compass after getting her shot.
Jocson welcomed liked the idea of the outreach clinic, noting it “increases awareness for the safety of the community”.
Convenience increases coverage
Fellow shopper Agustin Pomento said he decided to update his COVID vaccine because “COVID is still going around.”
“It’s 100% [convenient]. I am confident for the healthcare that they give and the vaccine in the supermarket because… there are variants,” Pomento said.
He checked the schedule and found the supermarket times so he could get his shot and shopping done at the same time.
The supermarket clinics have been held previously flu shots, but the team at HSA modified the outreach to include the COVID vaccine and booster shots.
Claudia Lopez del Castillo got her first dose at the supermarket and she said it was easy for her to do it there.
The HSA, in response to Compass queries, said the uptake of the shots “as part of this effort has been received moderately favorably, with approximately 2,000 COVID-19 vaccines given”.
“The community supermarket outreach vaccination programme aims to reach the ‘yet to be reached’ population and serve as an effective strategy in serving the community. In the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the outreach programme increases access and expands people’s willingness in the uptake of the vaccine.
“While this strategy is not new to our health promotion efforts, it provides a renewed and unique opportunity to enhance population knowledge and skills and raise awareness,” the HSA added.
Jessica Mbanda said she had been thinking of getting her booster for the last couple of weeks as she would be travelling for work and wanted to make sure she had everything covered.
“I saw that it was here and I worked not far so I thought, ‘Okay, come’, and I turned up… easy and, boom, done in five minutes,” she said.
Mbanda noted it may be slightly “odd” for the vaccines to be done at the supermarket with all the people around, but “it makes it very convenient”.
She said she had no qualms about the vaccine.
“I’ve not been particularly sceptical about any of it. I figure we take so many vaccines generally, this is just another one of them… I kind of look at all of the people in the world that it seems to have kind of cut down all of the deaths… so I just think it’s something to do… it’s actually quite simple,” she added.
Variants are circulating
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nick Gent welcomed the addition of the supermarket outreach.
“Our Public Health team is doing what they can by making the booster more readily available in places like supermarkets because they want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to access the booster. So, I urge all those who have not yet received their booster shot not to wait and get boosted,” he said.
The COVID-19 boosters, he explained, are “the best tool in helping to prevent severe outcomes such as hospitalisation and death, especially among our most vulnerable citizens”.
“But it is also important to remember that the boosters are essential in our efforts to ‘live with COVID’. Part of living safely and responsibly with this virus means ensuring that we do our part in preventing its spread, and giving our immune system the best chance to fight it should we contract it,” he said.
Couple Naoko Fujimatsu and Clifford Shaw both got their boosters at the supermarket ahead of their flight the following day.
Shaw said they went online and filled out their form before heading over to Foster’s Airport.
“We checked our vaccination certificates and found out that the last vaccination we had was more than a year ago, so it just seemed prudent to get the booster. The shots we’d had before were all the Pfizer vaccine and I read that mixing the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, if anything, provides slightly more protection and so it seemed like a good idea,” Shaw said.
He added that they came for shopping, too, so “it seemed like a good thing to do on the way”.
Public Health nurse Carvell Bailey Able said the response at the supermarket has been steady and those who are unsure ask questions before they decide to take it.
The public, she said, is usually “very welcoming”.
“Persons find it very accessible… we know that sometimes our work schedules and our busy lifestyles will not allow persons to fit in a regular clinic setting so being here in the community is usually a plus for them. They find it very convenient to shop, and some persons, even if they didn’t plan on getting the vaccine at this time, because it’s available and accessible, they usually opt to do it when they’re shopping,” said Bailey Able.
She said she believes it is an effective way to the capture those who may not visit the clinic, but are willing to get the vaccine.
“Once they see us, they would come over to ask us what is happening, and when we inform them what we’re doing, they sometimes go in and shop and then by the time they’re out, they would say they’re willing to have their boosters,” she said, adding that before some people start shopping they will also opt to get the vaccine.
Individuals coming for their boosters, Bailey Able said, are required to show the date of their last vaccination because there is a required three-month interval for the autumn booster.
“Usually their dates [are] on their [HSA] app or they have a card to show. After that it just takes a matter of minutes to complete a form” as well as the card they will need as confirmation of the shot before it is updated on their HSA app, she said.
She encouraged the public to sign up for the HSA app so they can access their patient portal which has their vaccination information already uploaded, so they do not need to walk around with their physical card.
“Once anybody interacts with us for vaccination they receive a message to sign up for the HSA’s portal where they can easily, readily access their information on their mobile device. So coming to the [outreach] sites it’ll be easier because they have it on hand,” she said.
Bailey Able added that it is very important that when the patient receives the email for the portal they follow the instructions and get signed up for the app.
She also urged those who have not been boosted to consider doing so now.
“If you’re not ready to have the vaccine on the same day you can always come out to talk to us. Nurses are here, we have information here that we can share with you and we can also answer the questions that you might have, and encourage you. We do encourage persons to get boosted. The variants are around us, they’re in our community and being boosted is very important,” she added.
HSA CLINICS Heroes Day Holiday hours
- Accident & Emergency will be open 24 hours.
- Smith Road Medical Centre Pharmacy and Cayman Islands Hospital Pharmacy will be open 9am-5:30pm.
- All Outpatient clinics (Grand Cayman & Sister Islands), Urgent Care Clinic and District Health Centres will be closed and will resume normal operating hours on Tuesday, 24 Jan. 2023.
COVID-19 SERVICES
- COVID-19 vaccination clinics will be closed on the public holidays. For the latest COVID-19 vaccination schedule, visit www.hsa.ky/public-health/coronavirus/.
- Confirmation PCR testing at Truman Bodden Sports Complex (drive through) will be closed. Regular schedule will resume Wednesday, 25 Jan. 2023.
- Confirmation PCR testing in Cayman Brac at the Aston Rutty Medical Wing will be closed. Regular weekday testing from 9am-10am will resume Wednesday, 25 Jan. 2023.
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