Covenant Health Hobbs Hospital is organizing a drive-thru vaccine clinic with a goal of offering parents a convenient method of vaccinating their child before school resumes later this summer.
The drive-thru clinic will be held at the hospital (located at 5419 North Lovington Highway in Hobbs) on June 23rd at from 9 a.m. to noon, providing all those between 12 and 17 with their legal guardians’ consent the first shot of the two-dose vaccine. Per federal guidelines that recommend a three week break between the first and second doses of the vaccine, the second dose will be administered on July 21st in the same location.
As this is a drive-thru clinic, neither the children receiving the shot nor their legal guardians will be required to get out of their vehicles.
If you have questions about the drive-thru clinic, call the hospital at 575-492-5600, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Lea County’s overall vaccination rate remains much lower than the state’s average, with just 17 percent of those in the county vaccinated. As a state, New Mexico’s population is 51 percent vaccinated as a whole.
Part of the reason for the lower vaccination rate in the county overall is the number of younger children who are not yet eligible for the vaccine. Those age 12 and older are vaccinated at a rate of 22 percent in the county, representing a small improvement.
The vaccine helps prevent infection of the COVID-19 virus. Research about the effects of the virus is continuing to amass, including the recognition that it can rupture blood vessels in the brain and produce long-lasting brain damage even when other symptoms are less severe. While more details come to light about COVID-19, the world has long known of its severity resulting in pandemic restrictions across the globe for over a year. Many of those restrictions are beginning to relax now that people are becoming vaccinated. However, there are still many people unvaccinated.
Public health officials are increasingly urging New Mexico residents to get vaccinated as a particularly virulent and aggressive strain called the Delta variant is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. The Delta variant is more contagious and capable of infecting more people with the potentially deadly virus. Early data suggests available COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the Delta variant.
