Charlie Norwood VA hospital ramps up vaccines at second clinic

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s been over a week since public vaccinations rolled out across the CSRA, and the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been ramping things up with their second vaccine clinic.

“We designed this vaccine clinic to be flexible able to expand the contract based on veteran needs and appointments,” said Lt. Robert McMinn, clinic manager.

The first clinic is inside the downtown campus, while the new bigger clinic is housed in the uptown campus. It gives around 50,000 veterans two places to get vaccinated.

“So, between the two sides, we can do a lot of vaccines per day,” McMinn said.

Just how many vaccinations? Nearly 500 people a day, which is hundreds more than what the first clinic could do alone.

This clinic was formed in just three days. Veterans get their vaccinations and then head over to the auditorium for vaccine monitoring and education.

“We’ll monitor you for 15 minutes generally after your shot,” McMinn said.

Nurse practitioner Jeremy Leaf has worked in the clinic since day one, and he says he’s never seen so many people this eager to get a shot.

“We want to be able to see our patients face to face again,” Leaf said.

“It’s been a lot of fun to come in here and help out.”

McMinn said: “Since we’ve been in operation, we’ve had over 3,200 vaccines come out of this clinic alone since we started.”

When more vaccine is available and more of the public can get vaccinated, the clinic can expand, too.

“We have a lot of veterans still that we need to get in to get vaccinated so we’re just going to continue to grow. And that is exciting,” McMinn said.

McMinn says the clinic can reach up to 1000 vaccinations a day when possible.

Veterans can walk in, but they recommend making an appointment using the number 706-733-0188, options 7664, 7667 or 7790.

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