8-week FEMA backed vaccination site kicks off at Expo

CENTRAL POINT, Ore —An event that took weeks of preparation from numerous organizations, is now in full swing. It’s a joint effort between FEMA, the Oregon Health Authority, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management, Jackson County Emergency Management, and others.

“I know when we did our drive-thru back in January and February, we knew our community could put on such an event and make sure that the vaccine was available, so getting the support to do that again is really exciting,” said Tanya Phillips with Jackson County Public Health.

The walk-up site has been here for the past month but the drive-thru aspect just kicked off Wednesday. It’s open every day but Monday for the next 2 months. An army of staff and volunteers is putting it all together, greeting, screening, vaccinating, and observing, to get people vaccinated.

“Everyone on my team was raising their hand to come out here to come in on this mission and we take it very seriously, it’s important to us that we’re doing our best to support everyone here at Jackson County,” said Maj. Paul Guy Harris Jr.

103 Marines and Sailors from across the west coast are chipping in.

“It’s been absolutely fascinating we don’t have this kind of opportunity that presents itself this often and to be able to come out and support citizens and operate in our backyard, you can ask for anything more,” said Maj. Paul Guy Harris Jr.

Bringing accessibility to the vaccine is what health officials are stressing with this event. FEMA Representative Carole Stevens says this is an equity mission, everyone should have the opportunity to get vaccinated.

“We’ve put in place the accessibility elements that they will be able to access the forms, questions, there’s technology here if they need it to use throughout the site and get the vaccine,” said Stevens.

FEMA hopes the site can vaccinate over 1,500 people per day. You don’t have to be a Jackson County resident to sign up.

Visit jacksoncounty.org/getvaccinated to book an appointment.

NBC5 News Reporter Jenna King is a Burbank native. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Sports Business. During her time at the U of O, she was part of the student-run television station, Duck TV. She also grew her passion for sports through interning with the PAC 12 Network.

When Jenna is not in the newsroom you can find her rooting for her hometown Dodgers, exploring the outdoors, or binging on the latest Netflix release.

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